The Long Road Home
by StumbleDore
Summary: Everyone writes about the Chief or the Arbiter or some big Halo figure going to Equestria, but what if just a normal ODST somehow makes it? What if just a normal ODST gets transported to the Country of the Ponies? Rated T for swearing, violence and other things.
1. 1: Un-happy Landing

**UNSC Reaper Pod Bay**

**1300 Hours**

**12.8.2257 (Human Military Calendar)**

"30 seconds till drop ladies, get ready." Said Major Gregory Jones over the ODST drop-pod Coms. I confirmed his order and did a mandatory weapons check. I pulled the M7S caseless SMG from its holster and checked some of the obvious points; tightening the silencer, making sure the trigger was at the right tension and checking the scope. I placed the SMG back in its holster and pulled the M6D Magnum from my thigh holster, putting it through the same check. Many people call me 'old-fashioned' since I've had that M6D ever since I first enlisted, 14 years ago. But that exact gun saved my ass from being a Brute's next meal. After I checked the magnum for any faults, (and there wasn't any) I put it back in its appropriate holster.

"10 seconds, hold onto your butts, everyone." Jones called. I sat patiently, waiting for the order to drop.

"5 seconds..."

I put my hand on the release lever.

"3 seconds..."

I gripped it tight.

"1 second..."

That one second felt like an eternity.

"Drop!" Jones screamed over the coms and I slammed the release lever, sending me and my pod I to free fall. Just then, I realised what we were dropping into. As I gazed out the window of my pod, a full scale battle was being fought 12,000 feet below me. It appeared that an entire Covenant battalion had converged onto an UNSC forward base ironically named The Invincible. The UNSC inside the base put up a valiant effort, but the sheer amount of Covenant forces had overwhelmed the small base and were destroying it entirely. I counted at least 2 Scarabs, 10 Wraiths and about countless Ghosts, not to mention the ground forces. Even though I could barely see them, I could definitely see the trading of bullet and plasma fire all over the ruined base.

"You seeing this, Fire Hawks?" Jones asked to my squad, the Fire Hawks.

"Yeah, this is slaughter..." Remarked lieutenant Steven O'Donnel.

"We're going to die." Said Whiner blankly.

"I can't see shit." Said Comic.

"That's probably because either you've put your helmet on backwards or your pod'so facing the wrong way." I said, with a hint of humour.

"Oh shit INCOMING!" Jones suddenly blurted as an unseen Banshee swooped in and began to eliminate the other squads of ODST's. Soon 3 other banshees converged onto the remaining pods and dispatched them quickly. I grabbed hold of the pods' manual controls and jerked forward, igniting the engines and propelling me faster toward the ground. My Squadmates did the same and soon the Fire Hawks were trying to outrun a flock of Banshees.

"Eight-thousand feet. Recommend parachute." The computer blankly stated, but at that point I didn't care or listen. I heard plasma fire behind me, followed by a scream over the coms. Comic was dead.

One by one my team died. Whiner was second, followed by O'Donnel and finally Jones.

"4000 feet, Parachute recommended." I heard the faint buzzing of the Banshees' engines behind my pod, so I just closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable. I noticed that the pilot hadn't opened fire by then so I suspected that he was lining up for a fuel-rod blast. My suspicions were correct as just then a loud crack was heard and the blast from the cannon engulfed my pod, with me still inside it, in a fiery green ball of death. But then the extraordinary happened. I was still alive, I was still in my pod, falling toward the ground. I dared to open one eye, then widened both as I saw that my surroundings had entirely changed. I was now falling toward some sort of town, in the middle of seemingly nowhere.

"800 feet." The computer stated.

"Oh shit!" I yelled as I slammed the parachute button, in hopes of igniting it. Nothing. I slammed it again. Nothing still. I repeatedly slammed the button trying to get it to work.

"300 feet."

I stopped and sat still.

"200 feet."

I closed my eyes.

"100 feet."

This was gonna hurt!

_Crash!_

**Unknown Location**

**Unknown Hours**

**Unknown Date**

I awoke with blurry vision and a throbbing head. The pod was almost pitch black apart from the flashy red light that appeared whenever I hit the ground. I groaned and hit the side of my helmet, causing my HUD to light up. I glanced at my motion tracker and saw that there were unidentified life forms surrounding my pod. At first I thought they were Covenant but at second glance I noticed that the little blips were grey, not red. I didn't think anything of it so I pulled SMG from its holster with one hand and used the other to grab the plunger on the top of the pod. I twisted it and pulled it down, igniting small explosives in the pods' door, sending it flying 20 feet. Light from outside flooded the pod, obscuring my vision and blinding me for a couple seconds until my eyes adjusted. I staggered out of the pod, clicking a small button on the side of my head which lowered a thin but dark layer of glass over my helmet, allowing my eyes to adjust quicker to the new light level. When my blindness did subside, I still squinted at what I saw. Colours. Bright, Vivid, amazing colours as far as a Jackal could see. A small distance away I saw a town that looked like it was straight from the 19th century. I checked my motion tracker again and still it showed little grey dots.

"Um, hello..." I heard an unfamiliar voice call from behind me. I swivelled on the balls of my feet to face the new voice. I had to blink to make sure I wasn't seeing things. It was a pony. I've seen ponies in my lifetime, being raised on a farm on Harvest, but this one was different. It was a medium purple colour, with a dark magenta mane with a pink stripe in the middle and a horn sticking out of its head.

"Who- or What are you and how'd you bring me here?" I asked, pointing my SMG at it.

"I was about to ask the same question. Who are you?" The pony responded, with a very feministic voice. Any normal person would be surprised and even a little scared at a talking pony, but I've seen far worse then this.

"ODST. Service number: 22157. Current rank: Staff Sargent. Name: Daniel Seruso. Coename: Wolfmother. That's all you need to know. Now can you tell me where I am and how I can get back home?" I answered back, still holding the gun at what I surmised was a her.

"What is that your holding?" She asked, apparently fascinated by my gun.

"You didn't answer my question," I responded, pointing the gun at her head, "where am I and how can I get back home?" Nevertheless she moved toward the gun and began to examine it. She was going to touch it but I jerked it away.

"Why don't you want me to touch it?"

"Because I don't want you messing up its calibrations."

"What does it do, anyways?" I sighed and aimed the gun at the sky, pulling the trigger which sent 3 silenced bullets flying out of the barrel and hitting a small bird, killing it and landing in front of me. The pony out her hooves to her ears and started to whine, the bullets must've made her ears ring.

"What is that thing? It's like Pinkie's super-duper party crackers..." I cocked my head sideways in question if who this 'pinkie' figure was, but I saw her look at the bird and gasping.

"It's dead! You killed it!" She screamed.

"Yes, I killed it. And miss, a little bird is nothing compared to the things I've taken down." I said grimly, remembering the both terrifying and proud moment when I took down a Hunter with a plasma grenade and a well aimed pistol-shot.

"Yo-you mean that you've killed more innocent creatures?" She asked, seemingly hysterical.

"Well I wouldn't say that anything that affiliates itself with the Covenant is innocent, but to answer you question; yes, it's my duty as a member of the UNSC to do so." I answered. She looked up, with tears in her eyes and she was choking up. I looked away from her and I noticed that many other ponies were gathered around the scene, most of which I gathered where attracted to the gunshot. Others were there since I crashed. All of them had a look of horror, dismay and anger plastered on their face. The purple pony sighed and got up.

"Come on, follow me. I'll take you to my home where we can hopefully find some answers."

**Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville**

**1515 hours**

**27.8.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)**

Answers was something we didn't find, only more questions. We talked for a while, I talked about the things I knew, my home planet Harvest, the UNSC and finally the Covenant. After I told her about the whole Human-Covenant war and how they almost wiped humanity off the galactic map, she seemed as though she understood why I killed so many. She finally told me her name, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight also Informed me that her homeland, Equestria, has had almost no wars. The only exception was the Dragon Crusade, where apparently the Dragons had tried to take all the lands by force, but ultimately failed in their attempts. I was at first surprised that their race had almost never seen war, but upon closer examination they were a peace-loving race, much like the Huragok, who had to serve under the Covenant or face extinction. I asked if there were any humans, or any in the past, but Twilight responded by saying that either humans have never existed in their world or if they had, ponies hadn't seen any evidence.

"Well fuck." I responded solemnly, hoping to find another human in this place.

"What was that word?" Twilight inquired.

"What, Fuck?"

"Yes, is that some sort of expression among humans?'

"Well, it is an expression, but it's a 'rude word' in public. I tend to use it a lot, especially when some little grunt bastard decides to bite me and only gets a bullet in the face as a reward." I said grimly, remembering the time some grunt put a massive hole in my armour, taking a chunk of my leg with it. I had to spend 8 months in the medical bays.

"Grunts. They're part of the Covenant, aren't they?" Twilight asked. I nodded.

"Just thought I'd ask. So many different species, all united under one belief! It's amazing really!" Twilight suddenly exclaimed. I just grimaced under my helmet.

"It's not so amazing when you realise that their belief includes burning the entire galaxy using an ancient superweapon created by an eons-old race that's long gone." Twilight's sudden burst of energy died down and her face saddened. I just sighed and put my hands on my helmet.

"What are you doing?" The purple pony asked, a little worried.

"Taking this fucking thing off." I responded as I cracked the airtight seal on the helmet when I turned it 45° to the left. Twilight gasped, thinking I snapped my neck. I chuckled slightly as I lifted the helmet off my head and took a large breath of the new land's air. It smelled surprisingly sweet, like my aunt's apple pies she used to cook back on Harvest. I put the helmet under my arm and rested it on the arm of the chair I was sitting on. I heard someone- or rather somepony knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Twilight said as she got up and walked over to the door. I watch her open the door without even touching it, instead emitting a purple aura from her horn and coating the door with the same aura, making it swing open. What I saw would've amazed a normal person but with what I've seen, I wasn't fazed. What I saw was 5 other ponies, all ranging in different colours. I counted 2 ponies with wings; one was an aqua colour with a rainbow mane while the other was a pastel yellow with a long pink mane. I also counted a white pony with a elegant shade of blue mane which had a horn and I saw two other ponies with no special features; one had an orange coat and a blonde mane, while the other was a bright pink with a vibrant pink mane and she was quite literally bouncing. The white one looked at me inquisitively.

"So... This is the alien that crashed into Ponyville?" She spoke in a very thick upper-class accent.

"Yes, and to him, we're the aliens, so I guess it's best not to call him that." Twilight said.

"Hey, just to clarify, I've been called many things in many-a different things in many different alien languages so 'alien' is fine with me." I chimed in.

"I see... What's that you have on your leg?" The white one pressed, looking at my magnum. I pulled it from its holster. Twilight widened her eyes.

"You're not firing that in my home!" She yelled.

"Fir? Whaddya sayin' Twih?" The orange pony asked, thick with country accent.

"I'm saying that that thing is dangerous. Daniel, can you please out that back?" I complied and placed it back into the holster and putting my hands up silently saying 'happy?'. She sighed.

"Well then, everypony, I'd like to introduce you Daniel, the living proof that we are not alone in the galaxy." All the ponies except Twilight suddenly gasped and started trying to talk to me all at once.

"Hey, hey! One at a time, please." I asked and they eventually formed some kind of order.

"HiimpinkiepieandimponyvillespartyponyandimgoingtogiveyouthebestpartyEVER!" The pink one blurted out, then taking a huge gasp of air and passed out.

"Uhh... What?" I asked.

"Her name's Pinkie Pie and she's going to throw you a 'welcome to Ponyville' party, if you like it or not." The white one explained, "And my name's Rarity, Ponyville's resident fashion designer. If you have the time, you should stop by the carousel boutique so we can do something about that awful suit." Rarity exclaimed, obviously talking about my armour.

"Well thanks for the offer, but I'd much rather keep my armour on. With what I've seen, this is pretty much the only thing that keeps my relatively sane."

"Oh well then, suit yourself."

The blue winged pony flew in front of me, startling me slightly.

"Hi, Mr. Alien dude. I'm Rainbow Dash, the most awesome flier in all of Equestria!" She proclaimed, putting a hoof to her chest.

"I can see, Miss Dash. Your name suits you." She blushed slightly and flew a feet away, making way for the orange pony.

"Hiya! Ah'm Applejack and ah work at Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville's leadin' source of apples." Applejack said. I had a little trouble comprehending her accent but I had relatively no problem.

"Please to meet you, Applejack. Sorry to be rude, but wasn't there another pony here?" I asked, looking around for the elusive 6th pony.

"Oh, you must be talking about Fluttershy. I think she might've left already." Twilight said, also looking for the now-named Fluttershy.

"Oh, Allright then." I was looking forward to meeting her, I thought to myself.

"I think she might've left because she was scared of you. That pony's scared of her own shadow." I widened my eyes at Rainbow Dashs' statement. A being scared of its own shadow? I've only heard the lowest of grunts be like that. I simply shrugged.

"So, Daniel, or whatever your name is. I've got a few questions." Dash pressed.

"I'm happy to answer."

"Okay then. First off, what does your military actually do?"

"Well, to give you an answer that won't get me court-martialled, the UNSC is devoted to keep Earth and all her inhabitants safe, by any means possible. And to answer the possible second question; yes, that means killing any threats to Earth, or die ourselves trying." They all gawked (except Twilight) at what I had just said. They realised that I have killed, what they didn't know is how many.

"So you're telling me... That you're a murderer?"

"It's not murder if it's war." I explained.

"Your race is it war? With who?"

"Take a seat, and I'll tell you."

They all sat down and I told them everything about the Human-Covenant war. I told them about the different races of the covenant, the Spartan II program and about the most famous spartan of all, the Master Chief. What I didn't tell them about is the Flood and how it nearly consumed the galaxy. At the end they were all really intrigued by the hell I've been through.

"So, lemme get this straight. Your race is at war with some crazy religious group that wants to burn the galaxy?" Applejack inquired.

"Correct."

"So I can kinda see why you had to kill so many, but I still can't see why there haven't been any kind of effort to gain peace between eachother."

"We tried, the only thing we got out of it was 50 dead men and another ship to add to our graveyard. The covenant aren't about peace, Applejack. Almost all their species thrive on war and the prophets saw that, manipulated that, and gained them as allies. Those who opposed got crushed. It's that simple. The only reason we haven't lost is because of the Spartans, especially the Master Chief. You know I've served alongside him once?" They all gasped.

"What?" Dash squeed, as if the Chief was her new idol.

"Yeah, he dropped with us on the second Halo ring we found. It was a privilege serving with the last remaining Spartan, I will never forget that moment, seeing him fight like a lion, destroying all in his path, like a true warrior." I said, remembering that lone moment when I fought alongside the living legend himself.

"So anyway, you said that you're apart of a branch called the 'helljumpers', but you never fully explained what it was." Rainbow implied.

"Well then, what helljumpers do is, Well pretty much jump into hell. It's self explanatory, really. We take a free fall from space onto a planets surface to provide as much assistance as possible. The only thing is that less than 50% of ODSTs survive the drops. A lot of them burn up during entry of atmosphere. Helljumpers go where most marines don't. We know the danger, but that fact is that we have the balls to jump and makes helljumpers one of most highly respected branches of the UNSC, save for the Spartan branch, of course." They were all amazed at the risk of my job, the fact that I could die at any given moment during drops, that less then half survive and that I was alive to tell the tale.

"Wow, you are one courageous man." Applejack murmured.

"Well not really. I'd say more I've lived longer then most of my, former, comrades, but not courageous." I corrected. Yes, I did have the balls to make the jump, but it was for the good of mankind, not for money or glory. I yawned, having both a fatal but relaxing day.

"Sorry to interrupt story-time, but I have to report to the Princess about you Daniel, if you don't mind." Twilight said, breaking the little circle that the girls had formed.

"No, no it's fine. I'm not ONI or anything." They all cocked their heads sideways, looking for a better explanation, but I just smirked.

"Okay... SPIKE! WAKE UP!" She yelled, causing a bump or two to emanate from upstairs. I watched the stairs and saw a small bipedal creature hobble down. I instinctively drew my magnum and aimed it directly at the creatures head, causing it to look at me in slight alarm.

"NO DON'T! THAT'S SPIKE!" The ponies screamed, causing me to put my finger behind the trigger. I then aimed it upwards, took one hand off it and used the other to put it back, putting both hands in the air.

"My apologies. As you can see war can make some people... Edgy." I sat back down and began to twiddle my thumbs.

"Wha-*yawn* what's happening?" The purple being looked at me then widened what I assumed to be his eyes.

"What?! Another Bipedal? This is so cool! I haven't seen another bipod in ages!" I smiled slightly but quickly returned to my usual scowl.

"Spike, you'll have time to talk to Daniel in a second, but now I need you to take a letter."

**Author's note:** sorry if I got some lore mixed up. Even though I am an extensive fan I don't have the Halo Codex right beside me on my desk, You know? Anyway I'm going to add some twists and turns to this story, maybe a few surprises along the line?

dont forget to fav, follow and review!

Sincerley,

StumbleDore!


	2. 2: Out of Commission

**Outside the Library, Ponyville**

**1400 hours**

**24.8.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)**

Authors note: thanks guys for the support, this is actually the first fic I've written to get reviews. Unfortunately I got hit with a negative one by J.E.P 1996 who actually brung up some good points. So I'll be changing a few things 1: Daniel is not a Regular Joe, since he survived the battle for the second halo, knows what it could do and has fought alongside Chief. Even though he doesn't really much care for it, he is a very decorated marine. 2: since JEP brought it up, he will only trust a few ponies in this world. Of course the Mane Six but only a few others. 3: I know there were some grammatical errors last chapter but this time I'll try to be as accurate as possible. Okay? Okay. Let's start.

So when Twilight used spike, her dragon assistant, to send a letter to some pony, she almost immediately got a return letter asking me to be escorted to I assumed to be the country's capital, Canterlot. I walked outside to see a chariot-looking carriage drawn by two winged ponies. The chariot was painted gold with elegant artwork on the sides and a purple velvet interior. The chariot was obviously only meant to house ponies, so I had quite a hard time getting in. Eventually I wedged myself into the small seat and soon I was on my way to this Canterlot. Growing bored of the slow flight, I put my helmet back on.

"Computer, play One Way Ticket by the Darkness." I told the AI in my helmet, which complied and started playing the song I requested.

Authors Note: hey again, just here to let you guys know that he'll be listening to songs like these, older songs from way before his time. I'm going to say this again, if you don't like it, Fuck off and have a nice day. I'll also put the lyrics in, inspired by Lord Curly.

One Way Ticket by the Darkness

_It was a dusty old night and I'm the first to admit it_

_I'm sure I upset someone but my memory has chosen to omit it_

_A tiny voice telling me I really should cool it_

_Chewing my face off talking absolute rubbish_

_The first line hit me like a kick in the face_

_I thought "I'd better have another one just in case"_

_Next thing i knew, my heart was under attack_

_I bought a one way ticket to hell...and back_

_One way ticket to hell and back_

_Bought a one way ticket to hell and back_

_One way ticket to hell and back_

_Bought a one way ticket to hell..._

_I've always tried to keep my vices under wraps_

_But a coach-load of mutes would appear talkative chaps_

_If they had seen fit to join me for a couple of hits_

_Now my septum is in tatters and I've still got the runs_

_Burned for a moment, then it kicked like a mule_

_The strangers I recruited thought it was rocket fuel_

_Several massive choking lines of glorious gack_

_I bought a one way ticket to hell...and back _

_One way ticket to hell and back_

_Bought a one way ticket to hell and back_

_One way ticket to hell and back_

_Bought a one way ticket to hell..._

_Stick it up your f***ing nose!_

_Holding court, repeating myself, each repetition slightly louder_

_Pausing just long enough to snort the white powder_

_The wheels came off but I'm still on track_

_I bought a one way ticket to hell...and back_

_One way ticket to hell and back_

_Bought a one way ticket to hell and back_

_One way ticket to hell and back_

_Bought a one way ticket to hell..._

_One way ticket to hell and back_

_Bought a one way ticket to hell and back_

_One way ticket to hell and back_

_Bought a one way ticket to hell..._

As if on cue, when the song finished we touched down. I exited the chariot with spears aimed directly at my throat and crossbows aimed at me from the rooftops as well as the ground as I made my way to the main hall, which as it turned out to be was a grand castle. The towers spiralled up for seemingly forever and it shone with a white beauty. As we reached the castle doors I got stripped of my weapons (including my helmet) and was escorted inside. The halls of the grand castle were abnormally high and wide, so I assumed it was for tactical use, for when winged ponies were called to battle. One spear touched the skin of my throat and I growled softly. Eventually we reached what looked as though to be the throne room. It was draped in expensive cloth and lit by colourful glass which had pictures of ponies doing things I could only guess.

"That will be enough, guards. Stand down." Ordered an extremely regal voice. The guards then lowered their spears from their throats, but still had them aimed at me.

"Greetings, Extraterrestrial. I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria." The voice said again. I looked in the general direction of the voice and saw a white pony with a giant flowing rainbow mane. What was odd about her was that she had both wings and a horn.

"And what might your name be?" She continued, glaring at me with a gaze I could only assume was curiosity.

"My name is Daniel Seruso, and it is a pleasure to be in your presence." I bowed and she stood up from her throne and walked toward me.

"Likewise, Mr. Seruso. I'd like to ask you a few questions. In private." Without looking, I heard the clanking of armour and the closing and locking of a door. As soon as I heard the door closed, I was thrown and pinned to the nearby wall by some kind of aura.

"Now, you are going to answer these questions wether you like it or not." Another regal female voice echoed through the room. I then saw another pony emerge from the shadows, this one slightly smaller than the other but still had both wings and horn and I would tell this one was younger.

"Who sent you here? What are your motives? Are you here to invade?" She pressed, I just groaned under the immense pressure she was putting on.

"Jesus, can you let up a little? I'm no grunt but man, you're putting on way too much." I managed to say.

"You didn't answer my question." She replied blankly, adding more force and cracking one of my ribs. I grunted and but my lip, drawing blood.

"Luna! You're hurting him!" The other pony screamed. The smaller one lowered the pressure of the aura so such an extent that it dissipated, causing me fall down clutching my side. A staggered for a couple of steps before collapsing on the ground.

"Oh Dear, are you Allright?" The white princess asked.

"Yeah, I'm good. Ugh, but if you could get me to a medical bay I'd be much better." I groaned.

I few minutes later I was on a bed in the castles' infirmary. The pony doctors had to take a few scans of my body to find out where and what type my bones were so they could it fix them properly.

"Well, I have 2 things. 1; your bones are remarkably similar to that of an Earth Pony. I'd go so far as to say that even the bone PLACEMENT is almost the same, save for the arms. 2; the thing is that your bones will take longer to heal, about 6-8 weeks." The doctor said, reading off his little clipboard.

"Well then. Is there anything your magical do-hickeys can do to speed up the healing process?" I asked.

"Unfortunately no. since your the only human in known existence, we have no idea as to how our healing spells would affect you. The only thing we can do is tell you to stay out of trouble for the remainder of the healing process."

"Well that's just great. Thanks a lot 'your highness'." I sarcastically to the younger princess. She just scowled and remained silent.

"Uh, thank you for your help, doctor. Our friend here-" The white princess started but I cut her off.

"Woah, woah woah. Friend? You automatically think that I'm your friend just because you patched me up? You think that I'm in your good graces just because you put a piece of my rib back together? Yeah, no." They were all shocked by my sudden outburst.

"Would you mind leaving us with him doctor? We won't bring any harm to him." The white one asked.

"Much." The younger one murmured. She was rewarded with a small nudge to her shoulder.

"Of course, your Highnesses." The doctor bowed and left the room. The two princesses just stared at me; one with very angry eyes, the other not so much.

"What? You expect me to suck up to you too?" Their faces changed dramatically from anger to shock. The white one the wiped the emotion off her face and replaced it with a smile.

"So very sorry, but we haven't properly introduced ourselves."

"You have, she hasn't." I pointed out.

"Ah, yes that is true. This is Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and my younger sister."

"Charmed." I said mockingly, holding my hand out. The now-named Luna just stared at it.

"No handshake? Ok then." Putting my hand away, I just sat there, waiting for them to say anything.

"How did you get here?" Luna asked again, this time without the crushing-me-into-a-wall thing.

"Well, I have no clue. One moment I was about to be blown up into oblivion by a banshee, next moment I ended up here." I shrugged.

"Fascinating. I had a look at the equipment the guards confiscated from you. Very interesting items. One of these you had on your head." The white one implied. I then remembered her name being Celestia or something like that when she lit up her horn, somehow causing my helmet to appear in front of me in a yellow aura.

"Is it some kind of helmet? I've never seen headwear like this before." Luna asked.

"Yes, Luna it is a helmet. A Type V Rhino-Class helmet, to be exact. Specifically designed to prevent lethal shots to the head. Works especially well when facing off against Beam Rifles." I said as I put it on, locking it with my armour and lighting up the HUD.

"I'm sorry, what?" Celestia asked, as she had no idea about anything I just said.

"Nothing, just things from my life." I said as I toyed around with the helmet for a few seconds; checking the calibrations on the compass and making sure the motion tracker was working. I put my hands in front of the visor to make sure that there was nothing interfering with the view. Satisfied with it, I began to restart small talk with the two princesses.

"So, why were your guards pretty much targeting me for death?" I asked.

"Well, we couldn't take risks." Celestia summed up.

"Hm, makes sense. Computer, play Ain't no Rest for the Wicked." The computer complied and started to play the song.

"You guys gotta listen to this." I said as I set my helmets' speakers so we could all hear.

Ain't no Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant

_I was walkin' down the street_

_When out the corner of my eye_

_I saw a pretty little thing approaching me_

_She said I never seen a man_

_Who looked so all alone_

_Oh could you use a little company_

_And if you pay the right price_

_Your evening will be nice_

_You can go and send me on my way_

_I said you're such a sweet young thing_

_Why do you do this to yourself?_

_She looked at me and this is what she said_

_[Chorus:]_

_There ain't no rest for the wicked_

_Money don't grow on trees_

_I got bills to pay_

_I got mouths to feed_

_Ain't nothing in this world for free_

_No I can't slow down_

_I can't hold back_

_Though you know I wish I could_

_No there ain't no rest for the wicked_

_Until we close our eyes for good_

_Not even 15 minutes later_

_I'm still walkin' down the street_

_When I saw the shadow of a man creep out of sight_

_And then he swept up from behind_

_He put a gun up to my head_

_He made it clear he wasn't lookin' for a fight_

_He said give me all you got_

_I want your money not your life_

_But if you try to make a move I won't think twice_

_I told him you can have my cash_

_But first you know I gotta ask_

_What made you want to live this kind of life?_

_[Chorus]_

_Well now a couple hours passed_

_And I was sitting in my house_

_The day was winding down and coming_

_To an end_

_So I turned to the TV_

_And flipped it over to the news_

_And what I saw I almost couldn't_

_Comprehend_

_I saw a preacher man in cuffs_

_He'd taken money from the church_

_He'd stuff his bank account with righteous_

_Dollar bills_

_But even still I can't say much_

_Because I know we're all the same_

_Oh yes we all seek out to satisfy those thrills_

_[Chorus]_

The two were astounded by what they just heard, I just smiled under my helmet.

"What... What was that?" Luna asked.

"That, Luna, is called Music. That type of music is from the 21st century, WAY before my time, but I prefer this kind, not the 'music' our people have today." I explained.

"That... That was amazing! Do you have other music like that?" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, I do." Just then I noticed that my HUD was flickering a little bit, "huh." I smacked the side of it, but it didn't do anything. I just passed it off as a technical issue I had to fix later on.

"What are you doing?" Celestia asked as I placed my hands onto the sides of my helmet.

"I'm taking this off. Don't worry, I'm not snapping my neck." I responded as I twisted the helmet 45° to the left and lifted it off my head. The doors then burst open revealing an armour-clad pony.

"Your Highnesses, our sentries have spotted something." He said grimly.


	3. 3: Revelations (sort of)

**Western Watchtower, Canterlot**

**1420 hours**

**24.8.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)**

The two princesses, the pony soldier and I all rushed to the nearest watchtower to see what the 'something' the sentries saw was. As we walked up the stone steps the two princesses seemed non-affected, whereas the soldier pony and I were struggling to keep up. Soon enough, though we were all standing at the top of the tower, staring at the 'something', which resembled a large black cloud laying at the bottom of a mountain.

"Seriously? Damn Changelings don't know their bounds!" Celestia blurted out once she figured out what the cloud was.

"What the hell's a Changeling?" I asked, using a magnification feature in my helmet to get a better look at the large cloud and what I saw astounded me. Upon closer inspection, the cloud wasn't just one being, but many little beings, flying in close proximity to one another, taking the formation of the cloud.

"Changelings are natives of the next province over. They have the ability to Change and impersonate any being that they see fit. Ponies, dragons, even gryphons. You name it, they can change into it." Luna explained to me as I was looking at the changeling cloud.

"So why are they at the border?"

"They've been trying to expand their territory for years, but for the last few weeks they've been using force. Their attacks are extremely un-coordinated and they fail almost every time. Except now they seem to have brought in one of their clouds..." She trailed off in her own thoughts as I turned to Celestia.

"So, this has been going on for the last few weeks?" She nodded.

"We've tried to get a peace treaty, but their Queen won't listen to reason, saying that we either give up the land or fight for it."

"Well why don't you give it up?"

"Because, the amount they want is 200 square kilometres, that consumes Appleoosa. If we give that up, the lives of over a thousand will be lost. I don't want that to happen, Daniel." I wondered for a second as to how she knew my name, then I remembered the letter Twilight sent her.

"Good point... So that means you have to defend yourself and that little town of yours." She nodded again.

"Well, you have no choice but to fight."

"That's not the point, Daniel. Equestria has almost never fought a war, and if this turns out to be a war... We don't want to be depicted as the ones who fight."

"Humans didn't choose to fight when the Covenant came, and even after all these years we still don't want to. We're only defending ourselves. And that's what you have do to."

"Yes but..." She shook her head. "We can't. As princess of this kingdom, I shall not fight this."

"But I will." Luna burst in, "sister, Daniel is right, we have to defend ourselves, even if it costs lives. We are in danger of losing one of our most densely populated areas and you're just sitting here? Fine, you work on the peace treaty, I work on keeping our border clear."

"Well what about me?" I asked.

"Oh, heavens, no. You're still injured. You should be getting some rest."

"Luna, I'm something these Changelings have never seen before. I could be your best chance at winning this." I explained. She stood there pondering for a moment.

"Very well, you can come with me, but you must only go into battle when in emergencies, okay?" I nodded.

"Well then. We leave at dawn."

**Castle Courtyard, Canterlot**

**2000 hours**

**24.8.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)**

I was pretty much confined to the infirmary by the doctors, saying that I shouldn't go with Luna and that I should stay here instead, in case the fractured rib gets any worse. I just told them to shove off and let me go out. When they finally did allow me access to the outside world, they cast some kind of tracking spell on me, so if I try and run away or something. I had a wander around the castle, mapping the insides in my head, just for the off chance that this place gets attacked while I'm here. After 30 minutes of wondering, I found myself in the castles' gardens, which were absolutely beautiful. Little hedges filled with small flowers went alongside the footpaths, making it look that more complex. There were 3 fountains dotted around the gardens, each having a different piece on it. Bushes of Lavender, Daisies and sunflowers were panned all across the gardens, adding to the Majesty. I sat down on a nearby bench and looked up at the starry night sky.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" A familiar female voice echoed through the gardens.

"Yes, it is quite. I don't really get to have downtime like this. Most times it's either fight or go into the simulators. But this, this is a nice way to calm the nerves." Luna walked over to the bench I was sitting on and took a seat opposite me.

"You do know I don't trust you. Nothing personal, but I just don't."

"I understand, we're pretty much aliens to you." I nodded slightly as I was still looking at the sky.

"So, you ready for tomorrow?"

"Yeah... It's just,"

"What's the matter?"

"These damned doctors won't let me out of that cursed room. They won't even think about letting me go." Luna giggled a little bit.

"They're only doing their job."

"I know, but... *sigh* I guess they're right though. But for the first half-hour of me being out the guards were watching me everywhere I went." I sighed again, "Did you get them to do that?"

"Why, How dare you!? Why would I do such a thing?" Luna asked mockingly.

"Well because you don't want me rampaging through your city killing all in my path."

"Yeah, that makes sense." She said casually and We both had a good laugh at that.

"So, back to my question. You ready to head out tomorrow?" Luna asked.

"Yes. If I had my weapons I'd be right as rain."

"You'll get them when we get there tomorrow. But for now, they're in a place almost nopony knows about apart from Celestia and I," She stood up from the bench, "Come on, you need sleep for tomorrow. I'll lead you to your quarters."

A few minutes later and me and Luna were at my previously arranged sleeping quarters. It's was honestly quite luxurious, with a 4-poster bed, lined with gold and with sheets of the finest silk, large arched windows that overlooked a large portion of the country And enough food and water to even fill a Brutes' immense stomach.

"Wait, aren't I supposed to be in a medical bed?" I asked as I took in the room.

"You are, but there were some... Changes." Luna said.

"Changes?"

"Yes, changes. The doctors have a spell on this room so if you ever need them, they can teleport here within moments."

"Huh. Nifty. So, I'll see you in the morning?"

"Yes, I suppose so. Goodnight, Daniel."

"Goodnight." And with that she left the room, closing the door behind her quietly. I turned back toward the room and sat on the bed, which felt much different to the beds the UNSC issue out. While those are basically a plank of wood with a blanket that itched when you touched it on top, this was like a marshmallow was swallowing me while being covered in the worlds softest material smothering you.

I didn't like it.

After a few minutes of trying I decided to sleep on the floor, which much better. I soon drifted to sleep, but it entered a dream I wished would never come back.

**Installation 05**

**0200 hours**

**01.3.2551 (UNSC Military Calendar)**

_Running, endless running from unspeakable abominations. I looked over my shoulder and was met with the sight of a wall of twisted and deformed flesh, both human and covenant, all moving through the halls like rabid animals. I pulled a frag from my chest, pulled the pin and just laid it on the ground, running faster and faster. A few seconds later my ears were met of the sound of an explosion, then unnatural screaming and wailing. I kept running, but I sensed my legs begging to give out and I was stumbling every ten or so steps. I pulled the SMG from my back and fired it behind me, in a desperate attempt to thin the crowd of twisted flesh and broken bones. My gun ran out of ammo but instead of reloading it I just threw it at the undead horde, hitting one and causing a slight domino affect, knocking down several at once. I tried to gain speed but I was rewarded with myself tripping over my own feet and face planting into the ground. They converged on my almost immediately, tearing my suit apart, then my flesh. It was the most Immense pain any one man could ever feel. I felt my bones snapping and my organs being popped in a single squeeze. Then they ripped my scalp clean open and ripped the brain from its stem. How I was still alive I have no clue. Then it happened. A voice somehow entered my now empty head._

_"You are mine now." Then endless laughter._

I shot up. I was drenched in sweat and I realised that I was crying. Bright lights filled the room and two figures were standing in the darkness. I instantly grabbed for my magnum, but it wasn't there. They figures were trying to get close to me, but I backed away as quickly as I could, backing myself in a corner.

"Don't worry, Daniel. We aren't going to hurt you." One of the figures spoke. I just screamed in their face to stay back.

"You just had a bad dream, we're here to help." The second figure said, getting far too close for comfort. A small sharp prick was felt in my neck and I was quickly asleep.

"Daniel! Are you Alright?" Was the first thing that I heard when I woke up. I was back in the infirmary, with both princesses and a few doctors. It was a very throng sense of Deja Vu.

"What happened?"

"Well, Daniel. It appears that you have had a very terrible nightmare. Your vitals were almost non-functioning during the event and your brain waves showed immense amount of fear, almost lethal amounts. You experienced quite a bit in there. You sure you're alright?" One of the doctors said, with a somewhat German accent.

"I'm fine, it's just a little dream."

"Just a dream? You were being eaten by these abominations! You call that just a dream?" Luna blurted suddenly.

"Luna! You went into his dream?" Celestia asked.

"I was just curious as to what he dreamt about."

"Wait, you went into my DREAM?!" I yelled.

"Yes, my duty of Night Princess dictates that I should."

"It's a bit rude, don't you think?"

"I don't think so."

"Well I do. Don't do that again, I can handle my own problems."

"Your problems being undead being devouring you?! I don't think you can sort that on your own."

"Listen to me. I've seen thing you cant even Fathom. I highly doubt your insight could help me." I snapped.

"Fine then. If you don't want our help, you don't want our help. You could've just said something." Luna backed away.

"Any who, I highly suggest that you don't go to the border. In your mental condition, I doubt that you can survive." The doctor chimed in.

"Shut your mouth. I'm fine. I can manage a fight. I have been fighting for almost 15 years and I doubt that this'll be any different."

"Alright then, if you think your good enough to go, you can BUT. I'll send one of my doctors with you, in case something goes wrong." The doctor walked over to the door and rung a small bell that hung on the left side of the door. Moments after, a young looking pony in white scrubs walked through the door.

"Miss Heartstrings, I would like you to meet Daniel. You'll be looking after him at the border tomorrow." The young pony squealed in excitement, startling me a little. She was youthful as I said before, but she had a pale green coat and a light blue and white mane.

"Hi there, Mr. Daniel! I'm Lyra Heartstrings and I'm your doctor for tomorrow." She beamed at me and even though I was under my helmet, I smiled awkwardly. _Oh god, this is going to be fun,_ was the only thought flowing though my head at that time.

Author's note: Thanks guys for the massive support! I've never gotten such good feedback before, so this is a really big thing for me. Just here to let you guys know that there's no love thing between Daniel and Luna. That'd be just weird. Also: I'm accepting OCs! They can be any race you want, except Alicorns, so don't ask. Just leave me their name, appearance and description of their personality via either Review or PM.

Hope you Enjoyed!

sincerley,

StumbleDore


	4. 4: A Rather Eventful Day

**Canterlot Train, Equestria**

**1200 hours**

**25.8.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)**

I could barely sleep during the remainder of last night, I just laid there awake, staring at the ceiling. I thought about my life, the blood, the screaming, the gunfire. It wasn't a very desirable lifestyle, but if I didn't do it some other unlucky man would've been forced into it. I just took it before anyone else did, to basically spare them from what this job had in store. I turned over and looked out the window onto the empty fields that occupied my vision. That place seemed so peaceful; no real sense of pain, of loss, of hate. I grimaced and turned myself to the other side and faced the blank concrete wall. I wished my life could be like that wall, just blank and unnoticeable. I wished that I could wipe the paint that was my life from the wall and start again... or at least put some kind of wallpaper over the paint to hide the mistakes I've made, to hide the things I'm least proud of. I turned my attention back to the ceiling and slowly fatigue got the best of me and I was sleeping dreamlessly in a matter of minutes. It only seemed like half an hour when I felt something warm touch my eyelids. I grunted and turned away from the heat source. But soon the heat was felt all over my body and I groaned. It was morning and there was no excuse not to be up, my brain told the rest of my body. Slowly, though push-ups, sit-ups and Chin-Ups with the bar used to hold the curtain of the medical beds, I got my body to fully wake up and I was ready for anything the day could throw at me. The door opened up revealing the same armoured pony from yesterday.

"Sir? Luna's waiting for you. Just follow me, please." I nodded my head and soon both of us were walking the halls of the immense castle.

"So, what's your name? I haven't asked yet, so I thought this'd be a good time." I asked.

"Name's Star Stream. I've been serving the princesses for just over 3 years now. How long you've been enlisted?" He asked with a small chuckle.

"14 years. Been fighting long before, though. Me and my brother always wrestled at home."

"How's your brother?"

"Dead. Has been for the past 10 years." I responded.

"I-I'm sorry for your loss." He said solemnly.

"Don't worry. He was happy when he died, I was with him. His last words to me were 'do what your best at until you pass', took his final breath and his vitals went flat." I sighed, "at least he was smiling."

We walked in silence until we reached the train station on the Eastern side of the city. There stood the two princesses, the nurse who I couldn't remember the name of at the time and 10 guards on the station platform.

"Good morning, Daniel. I hope you had a pleasant sleep?" Celestia asked.

"Quite the opposite, I'm afraid. I barely had any sleep since the nightmare. But I'm fine, it's not the first time I've been running on empty."

"Oh, very well then. Shall we?" Luna asked, gesturing toward the train that was at the station.

"Of course." The guards, Luna, the nurse and finally I got on the train and it left the station, leaving the city and Celestia behind.

"Question; why are we taking the train? Wouldn't one of your chariot things be much faster?" I asked.

"Answer; the train can hold more ponies than a sky chariot." Luna answered.

"But aren't we only going to the border?"

"No, we're not. The train's going to the border, yes. But it's also going through major cities, picking up Equestrias' best fighters. If we pull out the best right now, they won't know what hit them."

"Good point. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some shut-eye." I said, clicking a button which lowered a small metal layer over my visor, obscuring everything from view. I shut my eyes and soon I was fast asleep.

It was an hour later when something tapped on the side of my helmet. Thinking it was nothing, I just grunted and tried to go back to sleep. Unfortunately the tapping didn't stop and in a matter of seconds the tapping changed speeds from slow to extremely rapid.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" I heard from outside my helmet say. I moaned and raised the metal over my visor, revealing a rather disturbingly happy face. I jumped back a few inches.

"Jesus! You scared the crap outta me!"I exclaimed as she giggled.

"Sorry, but I was waking you up to tell you that we stopped in Manehattan! The Wonderbolts are the first to hop on!" Lyra was jumping and screaming like like the worlds' biggest fan girl. I guessed that these 'Womderbolts' were some kind of flying squadron, because out the window I saw 3 winged ponies, all in some sort of flight suit and wearing aviators. They boarded the train casually and entered the car Lyra and I were.

"So, you're the alien dude. Name's Spitfire, squad leader of the Wonderbolts." One of them said, raising one hoof in a handshake gesture. Her coat was undistinguishable because her flight suit covered most of her body, save for her eyes and wings. But she had a bright orange mane and tail, with lighter oranges in between.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Daniel and I used to have a squad, before they were all taken out by banshees." I said as I shook her hoof.

"Uhh, I'm soarin' Spitfires' Wingpony" The second pony said, doing the same thing as Spitfire.

"Charmed."

"And she's Fleetfoot, the third part of our Trio. She doesn't talk very much." Spitfire said, pointing at the third part of the squad who had strikingly white hair.

"I see. So my best guess is that you guys will give some ground support when the changelings come?"

"You bet. We're gonna give those Changelings a very hard time trying to get to you." Soarin' exclaimed.

"Uh huh. Do you know of anyone else coming on the train?" I asked.

"Not that I know of. Luna didn't tell us about who else is going with us." Spitfire explained.

"Well, why don't you take a seat? There's plenty of room here." I suggested, patting the seats of the car.

"Oh well, since we're here..."

Me and the Wonderbolts talked for over an hour, exchanging battle stories, discussing tactics and just generally getting to know one-another. We stopped at a place called Roam, where a group of gladiator-esque ponies marched on board. Next was Ponyville, where surprisingly only Rainbow Dash flew onto the train. She walked into my car, saw the Wonderbolts and squeed in excitement.

"Rainbow Dash. Didn't expect you to be here." Spitfire said.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh." Was all Dash managed to say. After a few minutes she calmed down and we begun talking like normal.

"I didn't think Luna would ask you to join us on our merry trek to the border." I said.

"Well, of course she would pick me; I'm awesome! And plus I'm pretty much an all-rounder when it comes to this kind of thing. I can hold my own on the ground, but I have a big advantage in the air." She explained as she mimicked fighting a gang of invisible enemies. We talked until we reached Detrot, where a pony strangely clad in full plate armour clambered onto the train. As he passed our car, I saw that he was massive, at least 450 pounds or maybe more. His mane and tail was silver with blood red tips at the end of them. With all his armour, not just he made the car shake as he walked by, but he had that other-worldly kind of look to him; almost demonic. I heard him open the car door 2 cars behind us and even heard him sit down.

"Who was that guy?" I asked.

"Him? His name's Day Star or something. Born fighter, bad pony skills. Heard he beat the heck out of a dragon." Soarin' said.

"A dragon? How'd he manage that?" Spitfire asked. Soarin' simply shrugged.

"Have no clue. Apparently he's a Blank-Flank."

"What? A pony that age? A blank-flank? How could've he not got he's cutie mark by now?"

"The hell's a cutie mark?" I chimed in.

"You don't know? It's a mark you get on your flank once you found the thing that you're talented at." Spitfire replied. I was going to say something, but it kept my mouth shut, grunted and tried to get back to sleep. My efforts were thwarted when the train came to a jarring stop that nearly knocked off my seat.

"Everypony off! Final Destination; Appleoosa!" The train conductor announced as the doors of the train car swung open and one by one the ponies on the train all disembarked and the train left the station, leaving us behind it. I took a second to look at how many ponies that Luna had asked to join her. I counted at least 40 or so, counting the guards that were on the train in the first place and the ones that had come in apparently via sky chariot.

"Everypony! May I have your attention please!" A regal voice rung through the station. It was princess Luna, who was flying above everyone else. "I have called all of you here with one simple request. In these times we are becoming threatened by the Changelings. In these times they have been terrorising this part of Equestria, trying to take it as their own. Well, today we shall fight back against this invading force and say 'you cannot take what is ours!' Today, we show the world that we can defend ourselves and if the world doesn't think so, we will prove them wrong! Today, we are the protectors of Equestria! Today, We Are Worthy!" The crowd of ponies roared with cheers and I found myself clapping at the end of Lunas' speech. Most ponies walk off the platform, leaving the Wonderbolts, the gladiator ponies, Rainbow Dash, the demonic-looking pony off to the side and I. Oddly enough, the gladiator ponies approached me in unison.

"We are the Blood Warriors. We fight for one purpose, so protect our nation from anything that threatens it." A pony who looked like the leader of the group claimed, sweeping his hoof at the other ponies behind him.

"Pleasure to meet you. As you may or not know, I am-"

"We know who you are, alien. Our princess told us that you would be leading us into battle. Is that correct?"

"Leading you?"

"Yes, leading them and all the ground troops." A voice spoke from just out of my view. I turned and saw Luna, smirking.

"Really now? I'm leading now?" I said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Well, like you said. You're something the Changelings haven't seen before. And with your weaponry, I believe that you can make a quick job of this." As she said so, my guns levitated towards me and I snatched them out of the air, placing them in their respective holsters. _A sight for sore eyes_ I thought.

"Oh and you might want to try and talk to Day Star over there. At least try and get some words out of him." Luna said, walking off the platform and out of sight. Taking her advice, I dismissed the Blood Warriors and strolled across the platform toward the lone pony.

"Uh, hi. Luna said I should at least try and talk to you."

He was still silent.

"Can you at least say something?"

Still silent.

"Are you mute?"

"...no..." He said finally, his voice low but very powerful, like some kind of voice cannon.

"Pony of few words, eh?"

"Speaking... Not, my thing." He said slowly, like he had almost never said them.

"I knew a guy like that once, shoot first, ask questions later."

"Know who you are. You alien. Don't try and talk. You get nothing."

"Ok then. Just trying to make small talk. Guess not then." I walked away from him, "Oh and by the way, princess Luna said that you're under my command from now on." I called over my shoulder. I was swivelled by Star, who even under his helmet, he'd his eyes wide.

"What?! Luna didn't say about that. Take orders from no-pony! Ever!"

"There's your problem, you take orders from no-pony, not nobody. And judging by your track record, your just a Private First Class, while I'm a Staff Sargent, that means that I outrank you." I smirked while he stood back and played that sentence back through his head. He then growled and stormed off the platform while Luna landed my my side.

"Well then, I guess he doesn't quite understand. He's more of a 'brawn over brains' guy anyway, so don't worry about it." He said calmly.

"I don't know, I get the feeling he's like a very taught piece of string; put too much pressure on him and he'll snap."

"I get the same vibe from him. Come on, let's go to the diner, that's where everypony else went, since the train oddly didn't have a dining cart." I followed her as we walked off the platform and into, for the next week, my home.

**Authors' Note:** There you go guys, the next chapter in Daniels' Equestrian Adventure. By The Way the pony Day Star isn't mine, it's an OC made by Drkeo. So go PM him or something. Anyway don't expect more frequent updates, I've got school bullshit to deal with so... Yeah.

Don't forget to Review!

Sincerley,

StumbleDore


	5. 5: First Conflict

Last Stop Hotel, Appleoosa

1400 hours

28.8.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)

The day started like any normal day. After my daily exercise routine, I step out onto my hotel rooms' balcony and look out onto the Equestrian landscape. We were booked at a hotel named Last Stop, because it was the last hotel on Equestrian territory on this side of the nation until you cross the border. At 0915 hours, the ponies that I was commanding would line up in front of my balcony and wait for me to address them. The only pony that was repeatedly not there was Day Star, which either stayed at his post near the border or just loitered around until he could do something. He kind of reminded my of myself when I first enlisted; cocky, ignorant, never truly understood the meaning of war.

"Alright, ladies you should know the drill by now," I announced as I paced back and forth on the balcony, "Celestial Guards; patrol the border from now till Noon, Lunar Guards you take over and patrol from Noon till Midnight. Blood Warriors; Keep the town safe. Rainbow Dash and Wonderbolts; Be my eyes in the sky. Keep an eye on this sector and report if you see any abnormal activity. Alright move out!" I dismissed them and watched as they all went their separate ways. I walked back inside and sat down in the chair facing the pin-up map of Equestria I had covering almost all of the back wall. There was another, much smaller map of Appleoosa and the surrounding area next to it, with pins all through it showing the Changeling activity Dash and the Wonderbolts had apparently spotted. I had borrowed all the books I could about the Changelings from the local library so I could cross-reference their information with the books' so check what tactics they were using. I was happily reading and looking at the maps when someone knocked on my door.

"Come in." The door opened and Luna casually strolled into the room and stood next to me.

"So, any new developments on this front?" She asked, staring at the maps.

"Two actually. Dash spotted a scout about half a click east from Old Brooks' Hill. And Spitfire said she saw a squad circling this area." I said, pointing at the pins that corresponded to what I said.

"Interesting. What was the squad doing?"

"No idea. I hope they don't get any closer, though. The food here is sensational, much better then the pre-packaged food we got issued back in the UNSC." By then I'd told Luna about the UNSC, the covenant and the war between them. I also told her about the halo rings and the flood buried within. She laughed a little but instantly went back to her blank expression, like the laugh was sarcastic.

"Anything else I should be notified on?"

"No, not really." Just then the balcony doors opened and Dash was standing outside, panting and with her mane in a mess.

"Sir. We got some really bad news." She said through pants and gasps of air.

"Well, there's something." I said to Luna, though I wasn't looking at her.

"So, let me get this straight; the changelings have created a cloud and are advancing toward here as we speak?"

"Yes, sir. They killed almost all the Celestial Guards. Only one made it out of the cloud alive, he's in the hospital with severe wounds and blood loss."

"I don't really care about his injuries at the moment, I want to know how many are coming."

"Hard to say, sir. Somewhere between two-fifty and five-hundred troops in there." I saw Luna pacing back and forth worriedly while I squeezed and flexed my fingers around, lost in a deep state of thought.

"Dash," I said finally, "Get every citizen of this town indoors as fast as you can. Find the Wonderbolts was get them to round up all our forces. It's go time." I turned to Luna and held out my hand.

"I'm gonna need my guns."

"Alright men this is time." I announced atop a crate that I found. Every pony under my command, even Day Star was standing in front of me. We were about two clicks from the border, away from Appleoosa to try and avoid mass casualties. "As soldiers we have been training for this for most of our adult lives. Our training has led us to this day, where you will give all that you can to save your country. I know that I have not been here for very long, but I've been trained to protect as many as I possibly can, that includes the lives of people that I do not know. People whom I have and probably never will meet are counting on me, on us, to succeed on this day. If we fail, and only if we fail, this will be the start of a much bigger conflict. A conflict that I know too much about..." I looked down for a second, then back at the ponies, "But nevertheless we will fight, and we WILL WIN!" I thrust my left arm up into the air and all the ponies did the same gesture with their hooves, which made me feel slightly proud.

"Okay everyone get into position; Lunar guards you stay in front, Dash and Wonderbolts stay up top. Blood Warriors, you're with me and Day Star you stay back and make sure nothing gets to Appleoosa." They all nodded and I raised my left hand in the air and squeezed my hand into a fist, signalling them to take the plan into action. Milliseconds after, both Dash and the Wonderbolts shot up into the sky and hovered in the sky at about 20 feet or so. The Lunar Guards stood in a battle line, five in front row, five in back. The Blood Warriors stood around me and readied their spears and shields. The leader, Maxius, looked at me.

"Are you sure that we will claim victory?" He asked, horn glowing.

"More or less." I shrugged.

"That calms the nerves." He remarked rather sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and loaded my SMG. I looked at the horizon and saw a thick line of black move across the landscape.

"Steady..."

The line moved closer, about a click and a half away. Everything felt like it was in slow motion, and a bead of sweat rolled down my face.

"Steady..."

A click now, within my magnums' firing distance if I lined it up properly. I could hear the buzzing. The non-stop, ear puncturing buzzing

"Don't go just yet."

Half a click. The buzzing was almost unbearable now, if it wasn't for my helmet. I lined up my first shots and put my finger on the trigger. Then I pulled.

"Go, go go! Weapons free, weapons free!" I yelled as I shot burst after burst of bullets into the changelings, sending down many as the bullets hit their both intended and unintended targets. They were dropping like flies as I kept firing, sending bullets and infinite noise into the air. I saw that the changelings fought like Drones; weak and could barely hold its own as an individual, but as a group they were a formidable opponent.

"Daniel! A little help over here?" I heard someone call out. I looked up and saw that it was Dash, who was having a a hard time with some changelings, who was surrounded her and were attacking full force. I aimed my SMG and fired a few shots which in turn brought all the intended changelings to the ground, never to get up again.

"Thanks." She called as she disappeared into the sea of black. I heard a crunch, then a sudden burst of pain came from my left arm as one of them had bitten me. I just grunted and put a bullet through its skull, ending it's life within milliseconds. I looked up and I grimaced as a flock of changelings slammed into the ground around me, causing a cloud of dust to rise from the ground. Several small bodies latched onto me in a desperate attempt to pull me to the ground. Their efforts ultimately failed when a burst of dark red energy hit all of the enemies, killing them and sending them plummeting toward the ground.

"Well I couldn't leave you there, could I?" I heard Maxius called from what seemed to be a wall of black. Since there were so many, I just sprayed my gun in the general direction of where I was aiming at and soon enough a small pile of bodies appeared at me feet.

"Nice weapon, it's like a crossbow on White Leaves." I assumed that 'White Leaves' where some kind of drug that had a similar effect as steroids or cocaine, so I just laughed with him for a split-second before going back to fighting. Eventually my SMG had ran out of ammo, so I put it back into its holster, pulled out my Magnum and continued to fight with that. After ten more minuted of fighting I heard one of the changelings scream a retreat order and within seconds, the remaining changelings, roughly thirty, began flying back toward the border. One was badly injured and was trying to crawl back but I picked it up by its broken leg. It wailed in pain and begged in its native tongue. I was about to end it when a hoof was placed on my fist.

"Don't. Luna might want him for interrogation." Maxius said, making me lower my hand. I grunted.

"You're right. She might want him to get some answers as to why they're attacking." With I sigh, I slung the injured changeling over my shoulder and set off back to Appleoosa.

Last Stop Hotel, Appleoosa

1445 hours

28.8.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)

The hotel room had only one light source; a desk lamp which was aimed directly at the changelings' face. Luna was pacing around him while I lingered back against the wall with Maxius.

"What is your name?" Luna asked him. Only silence followed, which provoked a punch from Luna into the changelings' face.

"Again, what is your name?" More silence, another punch.

"You will tell me. I'll beat it out of you if I have to." That caused a chuckle to rise from his throat.

"You think you'll get anything out of me, pony? I'd rather die than tell anything to you."

"That could be arranged." Luna remarked, gesturing toward me. I rose from the darkness to meet this changeling.

"Hi." I said, putting my hands against the table. The changelings' expression drastically changed from cocky to petrified.

"Yo-you! You are the one from the sky. You are the one the prophecy said will vanquish us all!" He screamed. I looked at Luna, who was just as confused as I was.

"You will call an army, an army of blue and red. You will burn this planet to the ground, just as the prophecy said."

"Whatever 'prophecy' your going on about isn't going to fool us. Your making this bullshit up and you and I both know it." I took off my helmet, "now, you're going to answer any questions Luna and I ask, unless you want me to turn your face blue and red."

Authors' note: Hey guys, here's another chapter! I'm thinking of getting you guys to make a profile for this Changeling. Just do what you would normally do when you send me an OC. Speaking of OCs, I wasn't so clear as to what I was trying to say; the OCs have to be from the MLP universe, so no Spartans or other ODSTs. And for the love of god, CHECK THE SPELLING! I don't want to wade through another OC submission with spelling errors every 2 milliseconds.

Anyway have a great day all!

sincerley,

StumbleDore


	6. 6: Drinking Time

**Last Stop Hotel, Appleoosa**

**1500 hours**

**1.9.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)**

We had been stationed at Appleoosa for about a week before we left. I had been sent a letter from Celestia saying that she'll send a few squadrons of her special forces over. Hopefully they are better trained then her normal guard. If they were the same, we'd all be doomed. I was busy packing up my things when my caught sight of a mirror that I haven't seen before in the week that I was there. Curious, I walked over to it and took off my helmet, the steam released visible. I fully took my helmet off and I inspected my face. It still looked largely the same the last time I checked but there were a few major differences. Firstly there was a giant scar from the top of my eyebrow running through my left eye to the bottom of my cheekbone. My bright ginger hair had grown significantly longer but that could be easily altered with my knife. The same went with the amounts of stray hairs accumulating on my jawline, like someone tried to colour in my face but gave up within two minutes. I had far less freckles as I had previously, I noticed as I took out my knife and began work on shaving myself. A knock was heard at the door.

"It's open." I called as a familiar shape wandered into the room.

"Uh, is this a bad time?" Luna asked.

"No,no. It's one of the few times of my life that it's a good time. What do you need?"

"I just wanted to check on our little changeling 'friend'. Has he told you anything?" We found out recently that he would only answer to my questions in private, a bit strange but if we wanted answers, that was the best option.

"Yes, actually. Says his name's Shadowwing. He's over there on the bed if you want to talk to him. Doubt you'll get anything at all from him-agh!" I winced as I cut into the right side of my lip, "he's unconscious."

"Unconscious?"

"He decided to attack me and was rewarded with a pistol handle in the face. He won't be talking for the next few hours." I licked the side of my lip, tasting blood. _Idiot, _I thought to myself. I heard hoofsteps running in the hall outside and even before she came into the room I knew who she was.

"I'm fine Lyra! You have no need to be in here."

"No you are not! Look at you. You're cutting yourself with a knife." She had put some kind of monitoring spell in the room so if I was any kind of pain, she could come running, quite literally.

"It's called shaving myself. I need to every once in a while so I don't grow a massive beard that reaches to the ground."

"Why are you doing it if it's painful then?"

"It's usually not painful. I just accidentally cut my lip, that's all. It's not like I'm internally bleeding or anything." I looked away from the mirror and started packing the little things that I had again. Finished with that, I walked over to the back wall and tore down the maps that I had put up, scrunched them up and tossed them in the nearby bin, calling 'KOBE' as I did so.

**Authors' Note:** Don't ask, just nod and keep reading...

"But you could be. Anyway, it's time to check that rib of yours." I groaned as I lifted my chest piece off, revealing a skin-tight shirt underneath. I lifted that up so Lyra could get a proper look at the fracture. She hummed and poked at it, making me wince slightly.

"Mmhmm. You're getting better, the rib is setting itself quite nicely thanks to your armour. I suggest that you take it easy for a week. No fighting or vigorous activities, okay?"

"Fine, Mother." I said sarcastically. I put my helmet and walked toward the door, slinging the backpack the princesses had specially made for me over my shoulder.

"Wait. What about him?" Luna asked, motioning toward the Changeling.

"You have magic, right? You carry him." I responded, slyly smirking under my helmet and walking off.

**Some Train, Canterlot**

** 1400 hours**

**1.10.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)**

The ride back to Canterlot was much less eventful, since we took a normal commercial train, albeit in first class. Shadowwing was locked in his own train car, with guards protecting the locked door and a trampoline outside his window, in case he decides to jump out and potentially kill himself. Rainbow Dash, Luna, The Wonderbolts and I were all in the highest and most expensive train car possible. Why we couldn't just get a normal car was beyond me but I relished in the comfort. The curtains were the finest red silk, the seats draped in cloth and there was a trolley coming around every 2 hours, carrying the upmost best food in the country. Again, I had no idea why we HAD to have this particular car so I waddled out and headed toward the bar. I sat down at the bench and took my helmet off, placing it down on the stool beside me.

"Wha' can I getcha'?" The bartender at the counter asked with a thick English accent, wiping down the bench with the Bar Rag.

"You got any Rum?"

"We certinly do, my friend. Jus' wai' a moment." He reached down beneath the counter, presumably to grab a glass. I felt someone- or should I say somepony sit down beside me.

"I didn't know you drink..." Dash Remarked.

"You don't know much about me." I remarked back. Seconds later the bartender resurfaced with a glass of dark brown liquid.

"'Ere ya go!" He said as he slid the drink across the counter, forcing me to stop it from falling off with one hand. I brought the glass to my lips and emptied a third of its contents into my mouth. I set the glass down and sloshed it around my mouth for a few seconds before I swallowed the lot, cringing a little bit.

"Did you water this down?" I asked.

"Dunno. Might've jus' been shipped that way." He said with a shrug. I huffed and chugged the rest of the glass, shaking my head afterward.

"Do you usually do that?" Dash inquired.

"No, but I'm usually around my squad when I do, they always cheer me on and dare me to go for a bigger glass." I responded with a slight smirk, before the memories of my squad burning came flooding back into my mind. I pushed them aside and just sat silent for a few seconds, before tapping the counter, signalling for another drink.

"You do know that you're supposed to meet Celestia tomorrow? I don't think she'd want to see you with a hangover."

"Relax. My suit can vent any toxins out of my body within minutes. It's all good. It's why I'm not dead from needle poisoning by now!" Another glass slid over to me and I grabbed it, this time slowly drinking it.

"I've had lots of fights in my time, but that was the hardest I've fought in like, ever!" Dash remarked.

"Really? That was child's play." I said, taking another sip.

"Well I'm not a hard-ass soldier like you, am I? I mean look at this!" She leaned over and I saw a rather large bite mark on her side.

"Ouch."

"You think? It stung like a bitch for hours afterwards." She rubbed her bite mark tenderly.

"Believe me, I know how that feels." I skulled the last of the rum and asked for another glass, then another, then another...

**Some time later...**

I awoke to the sound of screeching metal and a sudden movement which sent me hurdling out of my bed and into the floor. My face hit the visor of my helmet and I groaned. Getting my bearings, I slowly picked myself off the floor. Light filled the room and I winced.

"Ugh, the fuck happened?" I moaned, getting on my feet and looking away from the light.

"You were drunk. You passed out sometime near Eleven." A distinct voice told me. I un-screwed my eyes and attempted to walk toward the door, instead I stumbled over my own feet and almost slammed into the side of the door.

"Drunk? How can that happen? I have anti-toxi-" I stopped mid-sentence. "Computer, check all systems." A small checklist appeared in my visor. It had all the normal systems on; visor darkening, real-time injury check, automatic anti-toxin ventilation... That was turned off.

"..the fuck? Who turned that off?" With a quick eye movement, the system was switched on and almost immediately I felt a thousand tiny needles enter my veins, taking out all foreign liquids. The dull throbbing in my head ceased and I began to see properly. I stumbled a couple steps before collapsing to my knees.

"You Alright?" Luna asked, offering her hoof.

"No, it's fine. It just..." I took my helmet off, "the process of the toxin ventilation is that it takes out all the bad stuff in my veins. The only problem is..." I felt my whole body heave, "the lab rats at ONI decided that the best way to get rid of them, is through vomiting them up. You may want to stand back." I felt a wave of burning alcohol come rushing up my throat. I bent down, face to the ground and waiting for the torrent of bile to fill my mouth. I waited a good 5 seconds before it arrived and I vomited at least a litre of just pure alcohol in one mouthful. Not going into too much detail, but I figured that I must've eaten the entire bar's worth of peanuts before I passed out. A good 2 minutes of just straight up vomiting passed before I was able to get up, and even then I was shaking at the boots. I stood there for a couple seconds before I moved toward the door, then failing to keep my footing and falling onto luna for support.

"You smell like shit." She mused.

"Well I did just vomit an entire night's worth of liquor and peanuts. I'm not going to smell like honey and roses." The trained lurched to a stop and the vomit sloshed around the car, covering almost every part of the floor.

"I think we should leave now..." I said carefully.

"Yeah... I think we should." With that, we both started running off the train... Well I say run, but I was staggering quickly, to be accurate, passing the guards as we ran on by. They gave us suspicious looks, but continued their business as we went on by. The train conductor was calling out for everyone to exit the train so I stopped at a window, opened it and jumped out to avoid the oncoming rush of ponies. Sticking the landing, I stood on the platform waiting for Luna and the crew. I spotted them walking out of the train but I didn't move toward them, hoping that they would see me instead.

**Author's Note:** _Sorry about the short chapter, guys. It was intended to be a long one but a thought, 'what the hell, they must be missing me by now!'. Anyway, here you guys go! _

_Oh and by the way I may or may not be writing/posting a new story, be on the lookout for that!_

_Don't forget to Review!_

_Sincerley,_

_StumbleDore_


	7. 7: Relaxation Among Other Things

**Castle Throne Room, Canterlot**

**1445 hours**

**2.10.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)**

The walk from the train station to the castle was a long one, causing glares at all of us, mostly me even though I couldn't see them, I could definitely feel their eyes drilling holes into my head. We walked past many of the city's main attractions, such as a massive spa, a shopping centre the size of one of Harvest's crops and of course, the castle. We reached the castle gates and the guards, of course, confiscated my weapons and let me in only this time they didn't take my helmet, which was a welcome change. A quick shower later, I arrived at the throne room with the rest of my friends.

"You still smell bad." Luna told me through hushed tones.

"It's not me, it's the armour. If you had any cleaning supplies I could scrub it clean within half an hour."

"After this, I'll lead you to the castle storage and you can get them there."

"Deal." We waited a few moments before the doors opened behind us. We swivelled around to see Celestia and an entourage of royal guards.

"Ah, you arrived early. I didn't expect you to arrive until late afternoon." She said once in the door.

"Sister, we thought that you were in here." Luna said.

"No, no. I was opening a new arcade. Hope I didn't keep you waiting."

"No, it's quite alright."

"So anyway to business. Your report, please." I looked in my backpack and found a twenty-page report file on the mission and handed it to Celestia. She thanked me and teleported to her throne, where she opened it and began to read. We all waited a few moments before she looked up with a confused expression.

"What's this?" She asked.

"What's what?" I answered.

"Last Stop Hotel, Appleoosa. 1400 hours-"

"Oh, that's just the way I was trained to write out the time and location of where I was during the operation. The UNSC use a twenty-four hour clock reading, much more accurate than the twelve-hour clocks." I explained.

"I see but... Does it have to be twenty pages?"

"I like to be very thorough with my work, Ma'am."

"Oh, very well then. You may leave now, take the day off. This is a day for relaxation, considering it is Saturday."

"But what about the changeling, ma'am?" I asked.

"What about him? He's in our custody, there's nothing to worry about. Now go, enjoy your day."

"Yes, ma'am." I stood at attention, saluted, swivelled on my feet and walked out the door, overhearing one of the guards saying that I had more discipline than most of the guards in the royal corps. Smirking, I walked the halls aimlessly for reasons I didn't know at the time. Eventually a found what I was looking for, the castle supply storage. The door was unlocked, so I went in and began looking for the things I needed to clean my armour; industrial strength stain remover, some buff, a bucket of water and a hell of a lot of soap. Putting most of the supplies in my backpack, save for the bucket, I walked back to my room in the castle and began taking my armour off and washing it. The vomit stains took longer than expected, but after half an hour I got it looking like it was when it was first issued to me. Satisfied with my work, I walked out the storage room and headed outside. I once again walked aimlessly until I saw a building that I didn't notice until then. It was rather large, about the width of a Longsword and the length of a Pelican. It had a big sign out front that read

'Flim-Flam bros. Arcade. You play it, we have it!'

With the picture of two ponies with white and red toothpaste for manes and moustaches and wearing little woven hats. Intrigued, I walked into the building and was immediately greeted by the two ponies in the picture outside.

"Hello there, newcomer! I am Flim!" Shouted the one on the left.

"And I am Flam!" Said the one on the right.

"And we are the world famous Flim-Flam brothers!" The both said in unison, hopping on their back legs and extending their forelegs to the building behind them.

"Who?" I asked, watching their faces warp into expressions of confusion.

"How could you possibly not know who we are?" Asked Flam.

"Are you blind? I've only been here for a few days, for I am the alien that landed in Ponyville. I take it you've at least heard of me." I responded.

"Ah, yes. Of course, the alien that Celestia spoke of. We understand now."

"Good. So what is this place anyway?"

"Excellent question, my Extraterrestrial friend. This is a place for people can thrive and revel in the technological masterpiece that is video games!" Flim started and Flam finished.

"Huh. I've heard about these video games, they were used to entertain my people waay back in the Twenty-first century."

"Well, you're in luck my friend. We got the best game cabinets this world has ever seen!" Flam stated.

"Cabinets?" I asked.

"Yes, that's what they call the boxes holding the video games in. Come on, I'll lead you to our best cabinet, Changeling Hunter!" I followed Flam to a cabinet in the corner of the room where a lot of ponies gathered around a large rectangular television. Two ponies stood in front of it, with unloaded crossbows in their hooves. On the television screen was a field full of angry-looking changeling sprites. As the ponies shot their crossbows, the changelings on the screen flashed and fell to the ground with the number five hundred rising from their bodies. The crowd cheered them on as a small timer counted down in the right hand upper corner, signalling that they only had a certain amount of time to shoot down as many changelings as possible.

"Kind of like the simulators on UNSC ships, except you're not hooked up to hundreds of wires and other things." I said under my breath. The timer in the corner ran out and the screen read 'game over' with the ponies combined scores beneath it. All the ponies cheered and hit the ground with their hooves, suggesting that the ponies had a high score. One of them noticed me.

"Hey look! It's the alien dude!" He said in a high-pitched tone. He had a brown coat, a slightly lighter brown mane and brown eyes. He was also wearing a hat with a propeller on it. Suddenly all the other ponies turned and gasped.

"Yeah, hi." They all started talking at once, in attempted hush tones but I could easily hear them.

"I heard that he's a soldier on his planet!"

"I heard that he helped out at the border against changelings."

"I heard that he and Luna are dating..."

"What?!" Everyone exclaimed, then turned to me.

"You think me and Luna are dating?! Seriously? I'm human and she's a pony, that's illegal where I come from." I exclaimed, with annoyed and irritated tones in my voice.

"Hey, why don't you have a go at this?" The brown filly asked, pointing at the changeling shooting gallery machine, trying to change the subject.

"I dunno, I don't want to make an unbeatable score..." I said humorously.

"Oh come on. An unbeatable score? Imagine the amount of bits this arcade'll get if you make one!" I turned to the owners and their pupils were replaced with dollar signs and had massive smiles plastered on their faces and I swore I heard the faint sound of a cash register opening.

"Actually, you should give this game at least one go, mr. Alien. We'll even give you the bit!" Flim said as he tossed me a gold coin. Grabbing it out of the air, I walked over to the machine, with ponies on either side of me.

"Well, one go couldn't hurt, could it?" I rhetorically asked as I put the bit into the machine. The machine played a tune made of incredibly bit-crushed instruments, and the screen flashed and the picture of the field came back on. One after the other changeling sprites popped up on the screen and almost as soon as they popped up, I shot them down. One dodged the first shot I fired, but the second hit it and the number two thousand appeared from its falling corpse. I did this for as long as the timer went, which was about two minutes. After the timer ran out the game over screen appeared and the score under it was;

One million, seventy three thousand, four hundred and twenty.

Every single pony around me gasped, even the Flim-Flam brothers were shocked.

"How in the name of Discord did you get that?"

"It's just like the simulators I used to go into. It's not really that difficult if you have the quick reflexes." I said with a smirk, before turning around and walking away, much to the dismay of the ponies crowded around the machine.

"Now hold on there, why don't you stay a while? We got plenty more cabinets for you to try out!" The brothers said, trying to block my path outside.

"Sorry, guys. I got things to do and not much time to do so. I'll come back at a later date, ok?" I responded before walking around them and out the door.

"Looks like you got quite a crowd in there." Luna remarked as she walked with me through the streets.

"You think? They were begging me to play more."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because, I want to go back to Ponyville, apparently there's a party waiting for me."

"Ah, a pinkie pie party. You don't want to miss one if those for the world!"

"Really? Most of the parties I've been to are pretty much old naval officers standing around, drinking wine and talking space tactics."

"Well, these parties are far from those." She laughed slightly, before looking up at the sun.

"It's about noon, so my guess is that your train to Ponyville should leave in about... ten minutes."

"Oh ok, thanks for that!" I thanked her before running off toward the train station. Most of the ponies got out of my way but others were not so quick so I had a split-second to dodge them before I slammed into them full-speed. The train station wasn't that far away from my position so I easily got there and within minutes I was en-route to Ponyville. The ride wasn't at all eventful, but I wasn't going to drink again. I looked out the car window into the sky and saw the Pegasi moving the clouds. Why they didn't let the clouds move on their own was beyond me but what caught my attention was a slight rippling in the sky, like something was cloaked up there. Thinking it was just my helmet playing up, I dismissed it and quickly fell asleep.

**The Spirit of Glory**

**Unknown Hours**

**Unknown Date**

I was sitting on the captain's chair, looking at a planet recently found on our scanners after our slipspace reactors malfunctioned and sent us into the far reaches of the Galaxy. It was a class 2, hardly worth noting. I slouched back and brought the hologram to my lap and studied it. The most interesting thing on this planet was that it supported intelligent life, but one species had already formed a kind of Kingdom and had begun a war with another species that was developing at the same pace. Upon closer inspection, these two different species were quadrupedal and were equine-like, almost like something the humans have called horses but smaller.

"Shipmaster, our scans on the planet have picked up something." An Elite in blue armour told me, interrupting me.

"What is it?" I asked in a bored voice, my gleaming white armour reflecting off of his.

"We found a wave-length signature. It's human." I cocked my head directly at the fellow Sanghelli.

"What? A human? Out here?!" I hammered my hand onto the chair's arm. "Send a Phantom out onto the planet's surface, but make sure it's cloaked. We don't know if there may be more demons on this planet. There may even be a Spartan there."

"Yes, Shipmaster." The Elite then ran off the bridge toward the Phantom bay. I leaned forward in my chair and looked out onto the planet in the far reaches of space, where a human has unexpectedly landed.

**Train station, Ponyville**

**1620 hours**

**2.10.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)**

After waking up, I walked off the train to find that no-one was on the station at all. Even when I walked off the station and into the streets I found that the town was almost devoid of life, save for the birds and other small animals wandering around. A few minutes passed and I found myself in front of the Golden Oaks Library. For the first time in ages, I checked my motion tracker and saw a massive amount of yellow blips hidden inside the library. Smiling and knowing what was behind the door, I walked toward said door.

"Oh, I wonder where everyone is?" I asked sarcastically, then I heard a snicker from inside. I opened the door and I saw the lights were off, "Oh, it seems as though Twilight's out and turned the lights off. Let me turn them on..." I flicked the lights on and a hundred faces appeared from everywhere in the room shouting surprise at me. I mocked being in shock, throwing my hands on either side of my head. The one known as Pinkie bounded up to me.

"Hi there! I heard that you were coming back so I decided to throw you a welcome to Ponyville party but since it's your Second time here I guess it's a welcome back to Ponyville party!" She shouted in pure joy. I looked around and she wasn't kidding, it was a fully fledged party. In the time span of a few hours, she had put together something that would take a normal man a day to prepare. Punch, streamers, music, cake... You name it, it was all here. It was surprising, honestly.

"Well then in that case, party on!" I yelled and threw my hands in the air, causing screams of joy to ripple through the crowd. I waded through the crowd toward the punch bowl, filled a glass and went toward the back of the room. Leaning against the wall, I found that I only had one problem; my helmet was still on. I searched the immediate area for somewhere to set it down, but nothing was too inconspicuous enough. I wandered back into the middle of the party where I bumped into a white unicorn with two tones of blue in her mane and was wearing goggles.

"Oh, sorry ma'am, didn't see you." I apologised.

"Eh, no biggie. Name's Vinyl Scratch and I'm Ponyville's resident DJ! But in concerts my name is DJ-PON3, Kay?"

"Well noted ma'am. So you're doing the music for this party?"

"Sure am, do you wanna request a song or...?"

"Actually, I have something better in mind." I followed her to her Dj booth, which consisted of a turntable and two big subwoofers on either side.

"Soo, what's the thing you're going to do, anyways?" She asked. I set my glass of punch on the turntable and took my helmet off. I set the helmet down and turned to Scratch.

"You'll see. So, does this thing have any linking cables at all?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah. Just here, actually." She responded, handing me a USB cable that was linked to the turntable. I took it and plugged it into the helmet, where a small holographic display appeared above it.

"Woah, what's that?"

"This, my equine acquaintance, is the method my superiors use to gather any recorded footage from my helmet when I'm back from drops. But if I can-" I trailed off as I was tapping at the holographic keyboard. Then a small window popped up and it showed a list of songs that were stored in the helmet's CPU. I smiled as I grabbed the microphone.

"Alright everyone, you all havin' a good time?" They all cheered, "That's great. Now that you've showed me some of your culture, I'm here to show you a bit of mine. Here's a bit of music from the good-old twentieth century!" I tapped a button on the display and the speakers started playing The Boys are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy. Everyone stopped what they were doing, had a listen, then started dancing to it like they've heard it a thousand times before. I smiled and walked off the stage, making a b-line toward the food bar. I grabbed a plate and filled it with cake, biscuits and other assorted treats.

"Hey there, thought you'd be here." A familiar voice said from behind. Turning, I saw that it was none other than Rainbow Dash.

"How'd you get here so fast? I thought you were still in Canterlot."

"You do know who you're talking to, right?"

"Point taken. So, you enjoying the party? I know I am."

"Of course I am, it's a Pinkie party! Anypony who doesn't like one is either a total egghead or doesn't get out at all!" She exclaimed, hovering a little. Almost as if on cue Pinkie burst out of the punch bowl in front of me.

"Hi! I heard you were talking about me!"

"Jesus! How did you fit in that anyway?" I asked, a little bit shocked at her sudden appearance.

"It's pinkie, Daniel. Don't question it." Dash quoted. I decided to take that advice and just ignore that fact that there wasn't any physical or virtual way that she could do that.

"Anyway, you were talking about me?" Pinkie asked, changing the topic.

"Well, she mentioned your name, but that's about it..."

"Oh, okay then!" She said before disappearing into the bowl. Needless to say I didn't want to drink from it again.

"Alrighty then, that happened." I drank the rest of the punch in the glass and set it down on the table.

"So, anything you wanna talk about?" I asked Dash, attempting to spark small talk.

"No, not really. Maybe there's something that you'd want to talk about, maybe something that happened on the train ride here?"

"Two things, actually. One, why do you Pegasi move the clouds? Why don't you just let them move on their own?"

"Because that's just how we do things around here. He have a full schedule about when clouds are supposed to appear when and all."

"Huh, makes sense. Second, I saw a slight ripple in the sky on the way here. Is that some kind of device you use to move clouds?"

"No, why?"

"Just a suspicion. Now that narrows it down to either two possibilities."

"And those are?"

"Either my helmet's playing up and we have nothing to worry about, or a ship is in the planet's atmosphere and is cloaked."

"Good thing or bad thing?"

"Depends if it's human or covenant. If human we still have nothing to worry about. If covenant, we're all fucked." My tone turned serious at the mention of the covenant. At that particular moment I heard something outside. Fearing the worst, I checked my motion tracker. My fears were correct as three red dots were waiting just outside the front door. I silently drew my pistol...

**Author's note:** _sorry this took so long! It was going to be two seperate chapters but I decided against it. Still accepting OCs if you want to send them in, but now I'm accepting all races, including covenant! Oh and before I forget I have a new FanFiction up called the Coming of the Harbinger. It's about an alien coming to Equestriato consume all life. A bit like the flood but with a lot less tentacles. And another thing, if you are a illustrator and want to draw up a new cover for this story, fele free to and send them to me via my Twitter, thomasread3. And while you're at it, why not follow? I'm sorry you don't have to lol. I've been blabbering on for far too long now so I'll stop there. I just wanted to give you guys an update on what's happening, that's all._

_don't forget to review!_

_Sincerely,_

_StumbleDore_


	8. 8: Ponyville Firefight

**Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville.**

**1630 hours**

**2.10.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)**

"Dash, can I ask you a massive favour?" I asked Rainbow

"Yeah, what?" She responded.

"Move against the wall, preferably the one behind you."

"Why?"

"There are three Covenant troops right outside that door and by the size of the dots I'm seeing, I guess a breach-and-clear squad, one Elite in back with two Jackals in front."

"Covenant? Here? Let me at 'em." Rainbow Dash said with a kind of Vengeance, hitting one hoof into the other.

"You forget who these are. These are the aliens which took away my home planet with a touch of a button. I've seen it happen before I'm not letting it happen again. Now do as I say and get back."

"Man, I've taken down changelings before, i-"

"And these things can take down a fucking Spartan. Now get back!" I raised my pistol slightly to express my seriousness further. She finally complied and stepped back and up against the wall. With my superior hearing, I heard jackals squabble outside, an Elite's sigh of boredom and the crack of a powering up Energy Sword. A Zealot, shit. I thought as I steadied myself. The blade of plasma cut through the wooden door like butter and caught the attention of everyone in the room. The Zealot issued an order to the jackals, which in turn an arm reached in, a plasma grenade in its hand. It stuck it on the door and pressed the ignition button.

Oh, shit.

"Everyone GET DOWN AND AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" I roared. A hundred bodies dropped to the floor with an almighty thump as the grenade slowly ticked downward.

The three seconds felt like an eternity as a single bead of sweat rolled down my face. Raising my pistol to the appropriate level, I waited.

Then it exploded.

A small plume of smoke barrelled through the door. The smoke cleared to reveal a circle of plasma encased in an electromagnetic field. A jackal shield. It creeped through the opening while another backed it up. Still I waited, still and motionless, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The jackal took a look at its surroundings, the looked at me, let out a confirmation chirp and aimed its plasma pistol at me. The perfect time. I shot once, sending the bullet into the bird-like creature's hand, flinging its pistol out of its grasp. It reeled back in surprise and pain, letting out an unnatural growl and raising its shield for a moment. I shot again, this time striking the alien in its skull, sending it to the ground dead. It's fellow jackal stepped over it and fired at me, causing me to side-step around the room. I shot its hand, only to miss the first time but hitting my mark on the second. I delivered another lethal shot to its head and it fell limp on top of the other's body. I sighed in relief, thinking it was over, but then I remembered the Zealot that accompanied them. I checked my motion tracker and saw a red dot right behind me. I lunged forward, barely dodging its energy sword. I turned to face it and shot directly in its face, only to see each bullet get absorbed into the beast's energy shield, not harming it in any way. Now useless, I threw the magnum away and brandished my knife, turning the handle upside-down.

"Now, how about a little one-on-one time, eh?" I asked sarcastically, causing a sort of laugh to come from the Elite, "Thought as much."

"Foolish human. Do you honestly believe that you can defeat me?" It asked, snarling.

"Honestly, no. But I'm going to give it my best shot, I'll tell you that much." I started walking around the Elite, which was slightly surprised that I faced death so easily.

"Only your Demons have had such courage."

"Not necessarily." I kept walking around him, waiting for his first move. My tactics worked as he lunged at me all of a sudden, causing me to dodge out of the way and try and take a stab into his back. It worked as the knife easily passed through the energy shield and went into his armour, penetrating it and stabbing into his flesh, causing a warped scream from the Elite. He shook me off his back and swung wildly in my direction, cutting a huge chunk of the Library. It missed me entirely, though as I ducked under his swings and landed a cut in his armpit, causing to drop the sword hilt. I went to grab it but he kicked it away then stepped on my hand, causing a bone to snap. He kicked me onto my back and twisted his face into a kind of a sick smile.

"Go on, human. Go and beg for mercy, just as your countless brothers before." He said through pants. I obviously hurt him in some way when I stabbed his back.

"Only one thing, bastard. You forgot that I have a knife." I lodged the blade into his thigh, causing a shriek of pain to come from the Elite. I pulled the dripping knife out, leaned upward and stabbed in the general hip area, obviously severing some kind of nerve as the Elite fell to the ground, clutching his leg in pain. Panting, I slowly got onto my knees but kept my distance from the Elite.

"*pant* you have fought well, Demon. For that *pant* I commend you."

"Thanks?"

"Aren't you going to kill me now? I am wounded and have no way of winning."

"Do you honestly think I'm that stupid? You're just putting this little play on so you'll feel more gratitude when killing me, I've seen it before." He huffed and stood up fine.

"You are smart. But this has gone on long enough." He walked over and grabbed his Energy Sword, powering it up and walked back toward me.

"Now, it's time for you and the rest of this pathetic race to die!" He raised the sword blade above my head, going for a decapitation. Just what I was hoping for.

"That's not going to be the case." I leaned in toward the blade, then twisted my head, and got my head through the sword's prongs, at the expense of some hair and part of my nose. I jumped up and tackled the elite, sending it to the ground. It growled and tried to cut me, but was stopped by a knife that was stuck in between his two arm bones. He attempted to shake me off but failed as I pinned him to the ground, shutting down his ability to move.

"Now you listen closely, you creepy alien bastard. These are the last words you'll hear, so you better listen to them." I grabbed his wrist and twisted it, loosening his grip on his sword.

"You," I tried to turned the sword in his hand, "Will not." It was now aiming directly at his throat. "Take this planet." I tried to stab it but he forced it back, but I could tell that he was weakening. "Quietly!" I sent the last bit of force into his arm, sending the sword flying into his throat. His eyes went wide and he started flailing like a fish gasping for air. I jumped off him as he tried to dislodge the sword but it was embedded in the ground underneath him, preventing his escape. He grabbed and reached for the hilt, but to no avail as his muscles gave out on him and he was left gasping for air. He bellowed his final roar as his body went limp and the sword powered down, falling onto his chest. I laid on my back, heavily breathing. That was first time I had taken an Elite by myself, and won. It was an exhilarating experience, adrenalin coursing through my veins. I saw movement on my tracker as Dash slowly walked toward me.

"That... That's how you fight?" She asked.

"Not normally, no. But that was definitely something." I felt slight pain in my nose as the adrenalin worked its way out and a few seconds a felt what it's like to have been sliced by an energy sword.

"So that was an Elite?" Dash asked as I put one hand on my nose, even though it wasn't bleeding thanks tithe sword sealing the wound, it still hurt like hell.

"Yeah, a Zealot class, to be exact. I'm lucky it was only one."

"Only one?"

"Usually Zealots come in packs, most of which about three to five."

"How do you fight them?" Asked Dash, eyes now wide.

"Usually run them over with a Warthog," I said with a smile before getting up, "either that or blowing them up with rockets works just as well."

"You sure are violent."

"What do you expect? That I drop in and throw daisies all over the damn place." I walked over to the corpses of the deceased jackals and picked both their Plasma Pistols, checking both charges. I threw the one with forty-one charge away and kept the one with eighty-five. I walked over to the Zealot and picked up the Energy Sword hilt, only to find that the main systems had locked up, rendering the weapon useless. I tossed it aside and grabbed the Plasma Rifle from his left thigh, bringing it up to my face to check the charge. I was happy when it read full battery, so I holstered the Pistol and put both hands on the Rifle and looked outside.

"That was only three no doubt they'll be more. Best guess is that there's a Phantom outside, most likely in the centre of town. I'm going to go out there."

"You serious?! They'll shoot you on sight!" Dash protested, putting a hoof on my shoulder.

"That's what cover's for. Listen, I know what I'm doing. I've been doing this for almost fifteen years now, it isn't the first time where I thought I was going to die."

"Wh-what's happening?" Another voice echoed through the room. I whirled around to see Pinkie standing up and trembling, "are there more of those things out there?" I walked over and kneeled down next to her.

"Listen, Pinkie. There is more of things out there, but trust me when I say that I'll make them go away, I swear." She slightly looked up.

"Cro-cross your heart and hope to fly?" She asked, voice quieter than a cat's purr.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly." I repeated. She looked up and hugged me. I was at first a little Surprised but I leaned into it and hugged her back. We separated and I stood up.

"Now I want everyone into the top room, no doubt that I'll use this as cover. But no matter what noises you hear down here, none of you come down here under any circumstances, understand? Alright let's go." Almost everyone got up and made for the second floor, save for three.

"You too ladies."

"We're going to stay with you, Daniel." Dash stated.

"Plus, if you get injured, I'll do what I can to help out." Twilight added.

"Afta' all, whadda friends for?" Applejack rhetorically asked.

"That's nice and all but yo- you consider me a friend?"

"Well yeah, you did pretty much save our flanks a few minutes ago."

"No matter, you have to get up there. I'll be fine." I heard a large thump come from outside. "Just go." I had to usher them upstairs but they finally got up there and I stood facing the door. I heard a small shing and a small crystal appeared on my chest plate, but I didn't hear nor care about it as I ran outside. My suspiciouns were proven correct as I looked up and a saw a Phantom hovering overhead, guns raised and ready to fire. I printed to the nearest bit of cover which was the next building over. I leaned out the wall and fired at the Phantom guns, not affecting them in any way. I swung back into cover and switched weapons to the Pistol, where I pulled the trigger and held it, overcharging the main systems so much it risked destination. Swinging back around, I let loose the now large ball of superheated plasma straight the turrets, shot-circuiting their firing and targeting systems and forcing it to shut down. I checked the checked on the Pistol and was both relieved and disappointed that it read seventy. I switched back to the Rifle and begun looking at ground-level, checking for any covenant in the open. I spotted five grunts, three jackals and four elites, this time all of them were standard class. I pulled out my only fragmentation grenade, pulled the pin and tossed it right into the crowd of grunts. One of them looked at it in suspicion, then let out a cry of surprise before it detonated and sent all of them sky-high. That caught the rest of their attention as I moved up their flanks, hoping to get behind them. I moved along the backside of a building and peered into an alleyway when I spotted a jackal.

And it spotted me.

A surprised chirp and a motion letting everyone else that I was there and I was hugging a wall, a hail of plasma and needles whizzing past in front of me. I dared to look out, before instantly swinging back into cover, there's just too many at once that I had to deal with. All my thoughts vanished when a bright blue ball rolled next to my foot, then another, then another. I grabbed one and threw it back before rolling to the side, avoiding the blast. Three explosions later and I checked my motion tracker and was glad to see there was only four dots instead of the earlier seven. I went past a building and sprinted straight down its alleyway, overcharging the Pistol before stopping just in front of the band of covenant and luckily the grenade had taken out two elites and one jackal... Somehow. The elites saw me, pointed at me and let out an order in native tongue, I let go of the Pistol's overcharge and it hit right in the left Elite's chest, braking his shield and knocking him back. The remaining covenant began firing on me, making me run to the left and roll behind a fountain. The plasma from their guns hit the stone, splattering all over it and melting it like acid. This wasn't going to last long. I peeked up and fired at the jackals in front since they were the ones with Needlers, one of the most dangerous weapons the covenant issued. Their massive crystal projectiles launched from the gun and stuck into the stone before slightly detonating. I knew what they were doing; they were going to blow up the fountain. I kept firing at the jackals, mainly their hands in short controlled bursts so that they dropped their guns and raised their shields. I hit one then let loose a flurry of plasma and let it fall the ground. I trained my focus on the Elites, which were firing at me the whole time and had gotten closer. I brought the Pistol and fired in one hand while firing the Rifle in the other, one trained on the elites and one trained on the remaining jackal. The Elite on the left shields dropped and I fired with both weapons, melting his head and chest with super-hot plasma rounds and ultimately killing it. I whirled around to the other elite and fired the Pistol until it's shields dropped, before firing both barrels straight at the elite while walking forward until its armour was nothing more than a molten glob at his feet. He dropped with a thousand burns on his face as I turned to see the jackal was still shooting at me. I ditched the Pistol and ran toward the jackal. Huge mistake; one of the Pistol's plasma round grazed my left shoulder, making the rest of my arm numb. I kept walking forward, though as I pelted his shield, which was turning from red to blue very quickly. It soon shut off and the jackal threw its hands over its head and started running. I sprinted forward, brandished my knife and pulled it toward me before sinking the blade deep into the back of its skull, killing it instantly. I pulled the knife out and tossed the corpse away, before looking up at the sound of faint buzzing. Another Phantom had dropped and was about to drop another squad. I ran backward to get a better view of the Phantom, only to see a Covenant frigate floating at middle-orbit. I looked back at the Phantom and saw slight shaking in the cargo bay, meaning only one thing; Hunters. My thoughts were interrupted as a loud crack entered my hearing then an explosion rocked the Phantom. It turned toward the source of the explosion and was met with another as this one hit the cockpit, killing the pilot and forcing the landing craft into a death-spin with no way out of it. The engines wheezed and squealed as it spun into the ground, landing with a crash. I doubted that anything survived the crash so I walked toward the source of the explosions, which oddly emanated from the Everfree forest.

**Inside Old Betsy**

**Unknown Hours**

**Unknown Date**

"We just gave away our position!" Nikki yelled.

"Do you think he not know this?" Our gunner, Ren screamed, thick with French accent.

"On my mark, fire." I howled over the deafening noise of our tank, Old Betsy. We had been camped out in the forest for a couple days with no memory of how we got there. Our scout, Nikki, had scoped the area out and told us that there was a town about three clicks East from where we were. We rolled close to the town but saw that a Insurrectionist dropship had begun attacking the town, so we risked giving away our position and opened fire. The dropship turned and aimed their guns directly at us.

"Fire!" Another blast came from the tank and I peered down the periscope to see that the craft was going into a death-roll.

"Good job team, it's going down."

"Erick, I'm picking up a heat sig, it's coming our way." Nikki read off her screen.

"Friend or foe?"

"Don't know." I huffed in thought.

"Ren, get on the and set a 30 metre perimeter around the tank. Anything that enters the perimeter gets put down, got that?"

"Yes, sir. I'll get on it." I moved to the side to make way for her as she popped the hatch and started working the machine gun.

XXXXX

Meanwhile...

XXXXX

I walked into the forest and was greeted by a loud rumble coming from deeper in. I head heard that this place was dangerous but I laughed and told them anything this forest could throw at me was nothing at all. The rumbling got louder and I moved into a crouch as I Continued toward the noise. A few seconds later I peeked over a bush and saw the source of the noise; an old M4 Sherman battle tank. I had only seen these in museums and even then they were just holograms. I kept still as I inspected the tank from that position; a roughly 105mm cannon barrel, gun peeking out the side so I assumed that for symmetries sake there was one on the other side. On stop of it all was a turret mounted on top, which was manned and scanning the immediate area for people. I didn't approach it, in fear that it might light me up like the Fourth of July. Instead I coasted around it, hoping that the guy manning the gun didn't see me.

XXXXX

Ren's P.O.V

XXXXX

At first I saw nothing around the tank. The clearing we were in was as bare as clearings got; no trees, no animals, just grass.

"Ren, look out; the heat sig's due east of us, just outside the perimeter. If it opens fire, be sure to increase the perimeter to forty, got that?" Erick called.

"Oui, sir." I confirmed through broken English. Since I was a Frenchwoman through and through I haven't been exposed to the English language for very long, hence my yes being Oui. I scanned the area where Erick told me where the heat sig was coming from and I saw an unfamiliar shape peeking out of a tree.

"Halt, what you doing?" I asked, pointing the turret at the figure.

"Ah, hello ma'am." He began to walk forward, "I was Beginning to wonder if-"

"Take one more step and I fire." He stopped in his tracks.

"Sorry ma'am, I was just under the impression that you wer- are you a... Mouse?!"

"Anything about it?" I revved the machine gun and he stepped back toward the tree line. This was when I got a good look at this figure; it was a human. Obviously male because of his voice and build, an American accent and heavily built armour. I stood there surprised for a second before poking my head back into the tank.

"Uh, Erick? You may want to take a look at this..."

"What is it?" He asked over the tank's roaring engine.

"The heat signature you picked up? It's human."

"Human? No, let me take a look..." He squeezed through the hatch and landed on the ground with a thump.

XXXXX

Daniel's P.O.V

XXXXX

First there was an anthropomorphic French mouse manning a tank turret, then an anthropomorphic wolf clad in a black trench coat leaped out of the tank and started walking toward me.

"Uh, hi. You looking for something?" I asked, which made him stop.

"So you are real..." He said with the same accent as mine.

"Of course I'm real, why wouldn't I be?" I asked the wolf.

"Ah, yes. I forgot my formalities; my name is Erick MacIntosh," He extended his paw and I put out my hand and shook it, "that over there on the Gun is Ren, forgive her English, she hasn't had time to fully learn it." He pointed to the mouse on the gun and she waved at me slightly.

"Charmed to meet you." I quipped.

"Hey, Nikki! It's Alright to come out now." I heard a clanging noise come from the tank and the engine halted and stopped. A door opened on the backside of the tank and another her anthropomorphic animal walked out into the sunlight, this time a cat, wearing the same gear as the wolf.

"You didn't have to turn the engine off, ya'know? You could've just out it on standby." The wolf remarked.

"Oh shoosh you. Greetings, I'm Nikki, driver of the tank and the best shot out of all three of us." She said with a German Accent, extending her paw like Erick and I put out my hand as well.

"Oh really now? I bet I could put up some competition. I was the best with a DMR in my squad, after all" Nikki huffed.

"Fat chance."

"All boasting aside, how did you guys get here?"

"Honestly... We have no clue. One minute we were on orders to take a base near Kiev, next minute we were in the middle of a forest." Erick explained, "we've been camped in here for a couple days when we started to move toward this town that Nikki spotted, we saw that Insurrectionists were attacking, we decided to defend."

"Insurrectionists? Heh, those are a whole different kettle of fish, buddy. I don't know where you're from, but those bastards are from my place and they're called the Covenant."

"You think so? Cos' that looked very much like an Insurrectionist landing craft." Nikki stated. By this time Ren and joined the two other bipedal animals.

"Anyway, we'll discuss this all when we got into town. Come on, I'll show you the way." I turned, beckoned them to follow me and walked back toward town. All of us walked silently until we breached the tree line and got into the town itself. The town square was an absolute mess; bits of smouldering debris were thrown everywhere. Plasma burns were scattered across the buildings, most of which burned right through the walls and into the buildings themselves. The fountain I used for cover was just a broken pile of smoking rubble. Water still flowed through the centrepiece, albeit just in a jet instead of a small trickle. Bodies of grunts, jackals and Elites were littered on the ground. The place where I threw the plasma grenade was now a small three-by-five round-ish layer of broken glass, like someone had gone through the alleyway with a concussion rifle. Needless to say, the square was kind of destroyed. I looked toward the Library, which was the least destroyed by far, apart from the massive hole created from the initial Plasma Grenade.

"Yeah, I kind of had a little fight." I sarcastically remarked, turning to the animal trio.

"I think you might want to turn around." Erick stated. I turned and saw Twilight standing outside the Library with a face of both utter shock and anger.

"Ah, hi Twilight. I was just going to-"

**"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"**

"Oh, boy..."

**Author's note: **_Over 4,000 Words! Hell yeah! Anyway, more OCs from Dreko! The flurries were actually a great idea on his part on where I want to go with this story, so go thank him, or go hate on him if you don't like flurries for some weird reason. Anyway hope you enjoyed! _

_Sincerely,_

_StumbleDore_


	9. Can't be bothered making a relevant name

"Now calm down Twilight..."

"CALM DOWN?!You destroyed half the town! How am I supposed to be calm about THAT?"

"I know it looks bad, but trust me when I say that this is nothing compared to the things the Covenant can do."

"What? Can they destroy the whole town?"

"Try the whole country, then the planet." Her expression drastically changed.

"...what?"

"That's what they do, once their done with a planet, they blast the surface until the planet's oceans have boiled and the land has been turned to molten glass. I've seen it happen many times before." She started having a small panic attack, now with the knowledge that her planet could potentially disappear from existence, along with the rest of the planet's inhabitants. She looked up, saw my shoulder and gasped.

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" She squealed.

"What?" She pointed to my shoulder, "oh this? Just some plasma grazing, nothing to worry about." The pain suddenly launched into my shoulder and I clutched it, dropping the plasma rifle in my hand, "yeah, thanks for that. I wasn't thinking about it until then!" I grunted and stood up, the searing pain from the burn stinging like a bitch. When I was thinking about the burn on my shoulder, the Zealot from earlier must've got me somewhere in the chest because the cracked rib that I had started started hurting again, so I out my other hand over that and gritted my teeth.

"Ah, fuck! Shut, this hurts."

"We gotta get you to a hospital, and quickly." She tried to put a hoof on my but I shook it off.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"No you won't; you have a cracked rib and a burnt shoulder, you're going to a hospital."

"I'm fine, Twilight! This isn't close to the worst inj- hey!" A light purple aura encased me and I was lifted off the ground by Twilight's Magic.

"Ah, you're heavy. Sorry about this, but you won't go otherwise." I just sighed and tried to get used to the feeling that I was being levitated...

I couldn't.

XXXXX

A few minutes later

XXXXX

"So, Daniel, what did you do to get injuries if this extent?" The nurse, Nurse Redheart, asked me. Twilight had burst through the Hospital doors, which was still open since the doctors and nurses didn't attend or hear the party in the Library, set me down on a bed, tossed the nearest nurse a few coins and asked to check me out.

"Well if you take a step into the town square you can take a wild guess how my burn happened, but my rib is a different story." I responded.

"Oh really? What happened?" She prodded my bare skin as my armour was removed, leaving me feeling naked.

"One of the Princesses broke it."

"What!?" She stepped back and exclaimed.

"Didn't you hear? Luna slammed me into a wall and put so much pressure on my chest snap, there it went."

"Why didn't you tell me this?" Twilight exclaimed also.

"I was stationed at Appleoosa, how could I contact you?"

"You were at Appleoosa?!"

"Yeah, helping out at the border with the changelings."

"You were fighting CHANGELINGS!? With a broken rib?!" I sighed.

"Word doesn't really get around much, does it?"

"No, it obviously doesn't."

"Now there's a covenant frigate orbiting the planet and you have no way to defend yourself."

"What about you? Can't you help?"

"Of course I can help and I will help, I'm just saying that you don't have any kind of firearms or weapons to defend yourself against them."

"What about Unicorn spells?" I shrugged, wincing painfully.

"Dunno, us humans don't have magic, so we don't know how it could affect energy shielding."

"What about that 'Ranga-magic' you talk about?" Twilight asked.

"That? Oh that's just a joke, meaning that people with ginger, or Ranga, as the Australians like to call them, hair don't have Souls so they steal other people's souls via their magic." I smirked.

**Author's Note:**_ I doubt many Americans will get that, so just bear with me if you don't get it. If you're Australian though, I'm referencing myself._

"That's horrible, how can gingers not have souls?" Redheart butted in.

"Like I said, it's just a running joke. It doesn't actually mean that Gingers don't have souls."

"Oh good, I was Beginning to think that they don't."

"Look, can you just tell me how bad I am?"

"What? Oh right, well the good news is that the burn is nothing too serious, then again I've never had to deal with a plasma burn. Your rib though needs a little bit of recovery time."

"How long?"

"About four weeks." My eyes widened.

"Four WEEKS?! There's a frigate floating a few hundred thousand kilometres above our heads and I have to sit around doing nothing for four weeks?!"

"Sorry, but that's just how it is." The doors opened and Celestia, Luna and all of Twilight's friends walked in, filling the room.

"We heard what happened in the square, is Everypony alright?" Celestia asked and everyone save for me nodded. She turned to me, her face serious.

"So, what happened here exactly?"

"Well, if I was to tell you every little detail about what happened, we would be here for a few minutes. But to make a long story short, a dropship full of Covenant came in and I killed them all."

"Well... That's very..."

"Honest? Blunt? Straight to the Point?"

"Yes, something like that. Any ideas where they came from?"

"That frigate that's hovering above us at the moment, most likely monitoring our movement as we speak?" I asked, pointing upward. "But, now that I think about it, it's more the size of a warship rather than a simple cargo frigate, I guess Corvette."

"Ah, yes of course. But any ideas as to how they got here?"

"No clue. And before you ask, Luna. Yes, this was a very different party then the ones I've attended." I turned to Luna, smirking and she smirked back. The door opened again and Erick poked his head in, looking at the packed room.

"Huh, guess this isn't the best time, is it?" He asked.

"No, not really." I responded. He popped his head back out and I turned back toward the ponies.

"Who was he?" Twilight asked.

"Him? One of the only people in this world to fully understand the meaning of war. His name's Erick and he's actually pretty cool one you get to know him, like his two friends."

"Friends?"

"Yeah, his driver Nikki and his gunner, Ren. Both are animals, Cat and Mouse respectively."

"Cat and... Mouse?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, I was shocked at first, but once I met all of them I realised that they're from pretty much the same place I'm from, except their fighting a world war, where I'm fighting a galactic war."

"Great, now we have four war fighters." Celestia mumbled.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Nothing." She looked at me with a smile saying 'I seriously hope you didn't hear that' but I shot a look saying 'seriously? You think that?'

"Anyway, why don't we go meet them? They're just outside." I went to get out of the bed but I was forced down by Dash, Twilight and the nurse.

"Hey, hey, hey. You're not going anywhere with the extent of those injuries." The nurse explaining, struggling to keep me in place.

"With all due respect miss, just because I'm injured doesn't mean I can't go walking around." I lightly pushed her aside before sitting up, then got pushed straight down again by Dash while she pinned me to the bed.

"Why don't you just listen to the nurse?" She told me.

"Because, Dash. I've had three torn arm muscles and a sprained ankle but I was still up and fighting and that was from the drop, you don't wanna about the mission details... My point is," I shoved her off, "I'll be fine, just so long as nothing comes up and punches me in the gut." I finally got up and walked over to my chest plate, but just as I was about to grasp it a purple aura surrounded it and it lifted off the bedside table and over to Twilight.

"Fucking magic! Just give me my armour back." I swivelled around and saw Twilight holding the armour piece in front of her, apparently interested in it.

"Since when did you have this crystal?" She asked.

"What? What crystal? Just give me it back."

"I must ask the same question; how and when did you get this crystal?" Celestia asked as well as Twilight turned the front plate over to me to reveal that in the middle of the armour, was a solid black oval Jet embedded in the upper torso area.

"How the hell did that get there?"

"I do not know, but I sure as heavens know what it is."

"What is it, then?"

"That... Is an Element of Harmony."

**Golden Oaks Library**

**1700 hours**

**2.10.2014 (Equestrian Calendar)**

"So, Princess. You're telling me that in my chest plate, embedded in my armour, is the mystical seventh key to an ancient superweapon?"

"Well I wouldn't say superweapon, that's hardly the case." Celestia defended.

"It's six magic crystals that shoot death-rainbows, I would classify it as a superweapon." We went over to the Library, which was still partially destroyed by the grenade. Most of the ponies had vacated the building and decided to go back to their own lives, cleaning up first.

"They are not death-rainbows! I know since..." Luna said before trailing off, lost in her own thoughts.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Nothing..."

"Okay then, so anyway. How do these, 'Elements of Harmony' work?"

"They don't have any working systems, they are powered by the personality of six mares who represent their respective element. Them and them alone can use the elements to stop evil in its tracks. And each one represents a different aspect of friendship" Celestia added.

"It's like recognition tech; only one person can use one certain item based on their DNA or their thumbprint etcetera. But these work on... Personality?"

"Yes."

"Well that's a it strange, don't you think?"

"Hey, bud. We don't question your ways you don't question ours, got it?" Dash flew into my face and stated.

"But you do question my ways. You thought that I was a ruthless killing machine and was going to kill your entire Kingdom, didn't you Luna?" She turned to me, an expression of surprise on her face.

"What? I'd never think that!" She yelled.

"That's not what I got when you cracked my rib."

"That, was an accident!"

"Sure didn't feel like an accident."

"You two, stop bickering!" The White Alicorn bellowed, causing both of us to stop arguing.

"Now, say sorry or I'll make you say it!" She turned to me.

"That's not goi-" Her horn lit up. And she took control of my voice. "I am sorry Luna for arguing with you, it was very unprofessional of me and you have my apologies." I said in a semi-robotic tone. Her horn lost its yellow aura and I was in control of my vocal chords again, but left with a headache.

"Ugh, what the fuck?"

"I took control of your vocal chords, you wouldn't apologise otherwise."

"Why not ask before doing shit like that? I'm left with a headache now. Jesus."

"I do not know who this 'Jesus' figure you keep bringing up, but I assure you I am not him."

"Look, can we just get back on subject?" Twilight butted in.

"Oh, yes of course." Celestia's face turned serious again, "Daniel. Ever since the Nightmare Moon event we were sure that there were only six Elements, but this discovery has proved us otherwise." I saw luna look downwards slightly, like that name sent some kind of unwanted memory back into her head.

"So, do you mind telling me who these Wielders of Harmony are?"

Twilight cleared her throat behind me, so I turned and saw Twilight and her friends standing around her.

"Huh." Is all I said.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Dash asked.

"Well I figured by the way you're all standing, almost like you're posing, that you are the ones that can use the elements."

"Well yeah..."

"What I don't know is which one is which, so can you tell me?"

"Oh, right. I'm the Element of Loyalty! I'll always stick by my friends side, even to the very end."

"Ah'm the Element of Honesty. Ah cannot tell a lie, ever!"

"I have the honour of being the Element of Generosity. I give what I can, when I can."

"Imtheelementoflaughterthatmeansilooovetomakeveryponylaugh!"

"I am the Element of Magic! I make it all complete!"

"Okay, then. That's all of the- wait, where's the sixth?" I saw Dash's tail get tugged slightly.

"You do know you'll have to meet him sooner or later, don't you?" Dash stated to the figure behind her. A very faint voice was heard behind Dash.

"He's not gonna hurt you, promise." The figure then said a very small okay then it stepped out to reveal a pastel yellow pegasus with a long light pink mane.

"Hi there. I guess you're Fluttershy, am I right?" I knelt in front of the shy pegasus.

"Y-yes." Her voice was still very soft.

"I'm Daniel. I'm the alien person you probably heard about." I extended my hand and She reluctantly put her hoof in it. I gently shook it then stood up and faced Celestia.

"So, now that I know the elements, where do I come in?" I asked.

"Well, you see Daniel. It's not technically an Element of Harmony..."

"But you said that I was! If you look back earlier in the chapter you said that it was!"

"That's a Fourth Wall Break! You're not allowed to do that!" Pinkie suddenly shouted.

"Anyone can break the Fourth Wall, Pinkie. Not just you." I stated. The others just stood looking confused.

"Oh, never mind. Pinkie, we'll talk later. Anyway, I'm not technically an Element?"

"Well, not an Element of Harmony, but that crystal is an Element of War."

"...what?" Everyone in the room except me shouted.

"I know I said Harmony but hear me out. Long ago..." Her horn lit up and the room was filled with some kind of smoke. A large picture appeared in front of all of us, like some kind of vision, "many thousands of years before my and Luna's reign, our ancestors were a war-thirsty race. They conquered the many distant lands, from beyond where we currently call Equestria. Even beyond the Changeling Federation, Griffon Empire and the Dragon Tribes." The picture showed many different pony types donning war armour and fighting many different races; giant spiders, humanoid wolves and some Kind of giant sentient plant. "Their leader, Bloodhoof the Invincible, had a different set of Elements that we have today, the Elements of War. They were four crystals," The picture then changed to show a picture of a box made of dark oak and had little carvings of linked lines, circles and triangles all over the outside. The box them opened to reveal four oval shaped crystals, which I assumed to be the Elements of War. Their colours were Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire and Jet Black Respectively.

"Each crystal represented a different aspect needed to be a soldier of war in those times; Brutality, Strong-Minded, Remorselessness and last and by a long shot the least evil, the Element of Selflessness." The picture then faded, the smoke subsided and we were back in the library. The white princess turned to me. And cleared her throat.

"Daniel, even though your actions could've been avoided-"

"No they couldn't."

"Whatever," she cleared her throat again. "Your actions today saved hundreds of lives." She did some kind of courtesy, "You have my thanks."

"You're welcome, I guess? But I still don't know what this crystal means."

"I think I could be of assistance there, Daniel." Luna stepped forward, "That Element symbolises that you will put your life in great danger to in order to save the lives of others you do not even know. That, in my eyes, is an aspect of a great military leader. So, without further ado," her horn glowed and she summoned a patch, "For your heroism today," she stuck the patch over the top of my existing one, "you shall be promoted to First Lieutenant Daniel Seruso."

"It's an honour, Princess."

"Sorry we couldn't do that in better circumstances. But-" everything was interrupted when a large crash was heard outside. Nikki poked her head into the room, Handgun cocked.

"Daniel, we got a problem."

**Author's note:** _well, sorry this Took so long, I've pretty much hit a stump where I want to go so I'll probably just go on hiatus until I do. I've recently been watching the show Dexter, really great show. Nothing really much else to say, I was gonna write something else but I forgot it, damn. Anyway- oh! That's right. Next chapter, new OC! Yes I know, exiting! Oh and guys, tell me if I'm going too fast or too slow, I really want you guys' opinion on that. Also, if we hit 30 reviews, I'll write a special chapter for you guys! It'll be a surprise but I'll tell you, it'll be worth it!_

_Sincerely,_

_Stumbledore_


	10. Note

I am so, so, so sorry for the complete lack of upload in recent times. As you may or mat not know I am still in high school thus schoolwork is my first priority. Also, I've hit a big stump on this story, choosing rather to work on smaller ones that will be uploaded sooner or later. As for now, don't expect me to try and make a mad dash to create content for you guys, you should know by now I don't work that way. Please don't review on this since I'm going to delete this after the next chapter goes up.

Merry Christmas!

Stumbledore


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